Katie White and Jules de Martino reportedly scrapped the original incarnation of this, their sophomore LP, in favour of something a tad more ambitious. The indie-rock duo may rest assured that they’ve at least checked that box, Sounds From Nowheresville daring and desperate to impress.
The groovy Hit Me Down Sonny emerges an early highlight, a contemporary R&B-tinged track with shades of M.I.A. evident. The savage stomper Hang It Up takes cues from textbook blues, the anthemic inclusion consolidating the album’s strong first impressions. The Ting Tings frequently strip their compositions to the bare, rhythmic necessities. The simplistic strategy frequently frees White to shine, the silver-tongued songstress as sassy and charismatic as ever.
Too often, though, the duo’s ambition yields less than satisfactory results. Spoken-word oddity Guggenheim tries much too hard and suffers for its staged impudence and sudden tantrums, chaotic percussion recklessly thrashing about and shunning any real substance. Meanwhile, Soul Killer is downright confused, its charms needlessly obscured by a confounding cacophony of samples, each inexplicably crowbarred into the song.
The Ting Tings may have honed their versatility, though it seems they’ve shunned true pop potency in the process. This LP has nothing on its predecessor for strength of singles and emerges a lesser release as a result. Overall, Sounds From Nowheresville is an unessential novelty, sporting a few intriguing follies at best.
BY NICK MASON
Best track: Hang It Up
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In a word: Okay
