TOM ODELL - LONG WAY DOWN

I was worried when the release date of Tom Odell's debut album, 'Long Way Down' was postponed for two months. Did that mean that the quality of his album wasn't deemed high enough for a BRIT award winner? With previous winners of the Critics Choice including worldwide pop stars such as Emili Sande, Florence and the Machine and even Adele, the pressure was on Odell to release an album for the masses to enjoy.

Overall, he hasn't really disappointed, and I'm sure that a lot of people will enjoy it: the opening track, Grow Old With Me, is a sweet love song about sticking with the same person that you're in love with. The album then goes on to his single, Hold Me, a Jeff Buckley-esque song about the ecstatic joy of young love, followed by his breakthrough track Another Love, which is about him not being able to get over someone he was in love with... okay, I understand that Tom Odell is a 22-year old, he hasn't had much life experience to write about, and it isn't as though this album is that bad, it's just dull. REALLY, REALLY DULL.

Maybe Odell should have stuck with the original release date, because if I'd heard this a few months ago when I was still interested in what he had to offer, my reaction would be different, but a mere four tracks in,when he sings, "I know what you told me/I know it's all over/ and I know I can't keep calling" he sounds like the kind of clingy guy that every girl frantically tries to avoid.

As each song ends, I keep on expecting some sort of variety, but oh no, it's just basic chord progression underneath soppy lyrics, over and over and over again. It's been almost ten years since people like Alex Turner and Lily Allen started setting the standard for witty lyrics with smart references to pop culture, so why has Odell settled for such predictable, boring lyrics?

Quite frankly, it's upsetting that this album has been so disappointing - when I first heard Tom Odell on Jools Holland over 6 months ago, I saw something new and exciting in him, and now I have lost all faith, and I only got halfway through before I found myself skipping large chunks of this train wreck.

I wish that record labels would stop spending so much money on promoting preppy Burberry boys, and instead concentrate on the many brilliant artists that never reach the charts.

Long Way Down is out on 24th June.

xxxx