Akimbo sing songs about love, life and loss. Stephen Morris reviews the duo's album "All I Want".

In the film High Fidelity, John Cusack's character, Rob, justifies listening to Belle and Sebastian because "I just want something I can ignore." It's hardly the greatest compliment ever paid to Stuart Murdoch's wistful musical troupe, but sometimes music serves strange functions.

The Soundtrack of our Lives:

The same can be said of Akimbo. You would not want to sit alone in a room with nothing but the sound of All I Want for company, but having it on somewhere in the background as a form of mood music would not be an entirely unbearable experience.

Akimbo are "a partnership in life and a partnership in music". Finding their origins in a "Chillis style rock band", Akimbo couldn't be further from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers if they tried. Not even if they dressed up as giant pomegranates.

Chilled Out:

All I Want is a collection of chilled out tracks that in turns celebrate love, regret its failings and mourn its passing. But throughout, there is a feeling of the need to relax. "Take your time to notice the child's smile" suggests the lyric of "Slow Down".

Water Under the Bridge:

The sound is that of maturity. Having done the Red Hot Chilli Peppers thing, Akimbo seem to be more at home with more ambient sounds and contemplative lyrics. "All I Want" sounds like a tribute to Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" in all but name while other tracks would not sound out of place next to "Six Underground" by the Sneaker Pimps.

And all the time, lead singer Kim sounds like a cross between Echobelly's Sonya Aurora Madan and Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries.

Instrumental Sounds:

Akimbo use a combination of synthesisers and traditional instruments for their music. "Loving U" features a rolling, plucked guitar riff while its neighbour, "Misplaced Love" is full of synthetic beats and echo-ey backing vocals. The result is a collection of melodies, lovingly crafted by their creators.

The Bland Leading the Band:

There is however, something missing. The "music to ignore" factor kicks in soon because much of the music is rather bland. The x factor found in many chill-out artists just isn't there.

It doesn't help that in tracks like "Playing Games", Kim struggles to hit the high notes in such a manner that the oft-repeated, oft-out of tune lyric "I'm moving on" makes you wish that she would - to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't near your ears.

Let's Get it On (to the Sound of Something Else):

Final track, "Body", sounds like the sort of tune you might hear on a school's programme that is desperately trying to make Physics sound interesting. Perhaps it would be better used for Biology lessons, as the theme is "intimacy between two people".

It is difficult to imagine which two people would wish to share their intimacy with "Body" bleeping and shuffling around in the background, but it's probably safe to say that Marvin Gaye and Barry White can rest easy in their graves.

E.P. vs. L.P.:

All I Want is not a particularly bad album. But neither is it a good one. Opening tracks "All I Want" and "Slow Down" are not without their merits, and there seems to be enough good quality on this collection of songs to produce a decent sized E.P..

There is a promise of another album wending its way from the studio of Akimbo later in the year. Maybe All I Want Mark II, will be worth the wait.

12/03/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link