Shaky Knees Review

Whether this counts as an album depends on who is doing the filing, and at eight tracks and twenty minutes the question is fair. What is not in question is that the songwriting has sharpened. The title track is the best thing in the catalogue, a bouncing bass line, a crisp guitar and a chorus with a real melodic lift, and it shows a range in the vocal that the first record never asked for.

Catch My Breath and Sparkle keep the pace up. The production is brighter and less reverent than on the debut, with more of the artist's own personality in the arrangements and less careful imitation. The lyrics remain the flat part, dealing in summer, girls and nerves with no image sharp enough to stay with you. It also ends weakly, closing on the least interesting track present. Twenty minutes of good, likeable, well made pop that is gone almost before you have settled into it.