I find it curious that I Was A Cub Scout are so very proud of having been cub scouts: their MySpace page proclaims: "We are I Was A Cub Scout and we were cub scouts so please don't ask". In fact, I never knew that there were cub scouts in the UK; I guess I never really gave it much thought, I just assumed that scouts were an American creation. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Boy Scouts were actually founded in England! But I digress”¦ it's just this kind of mind-wandering that's triggered by IWACS's debut album, I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope (henceforth to be referred to simply as "the album" as that title is too long to type out more than once). After releasing four singles over the past year and a half, they are finally releasing their debut full-length. Unfortunately, I can't say it was worth the wait.Now, there are aspects of the album that I really enjoyed. There's the glockenspiel on the otherwise slow-paced, somewhat boring 'Lucean'. There's the rather nice chorus melody on the much-ballyhooed single 'Pink Squares', provided you can get past the banal lyrics: "And oh oh oh, am I in trouble? And darling I apologise, I miss you more than anything, please don't ever leave my side". 'Part III', although flat sounding at times and perhaps the most severe victim of Todd Marriott's "emo"-tive vocals, does manage to rock out some on the chorus. The up-front percussion and catchy hooks do a fine job of carrying 'Our Smallest Adventures'. And lastly there's 'The Hunter's Daughter', easily the albums' standout track. It's got good energy and an unpredicted mid-song flourish of spacey synth and trumpets that explodes into a lovely finish. Best of all, it's welcomingly devoid of the over-the-top twee and emo that pervades the rest of the album.Though I wish I could say that there are more things right than wrong, it just isn't so. The opener 'Save Your Wishes' is too much of a syrupy pop song for my tastes, and the album never gives itself a bona fide chance to recover. As previously mentioned, Marriott's vocals are too emo, and despite having replaced the drum machine with the real deal in William Bowerman, there are instances ('Echoes') where the percussion still comes over a bit electronic-y. Though the handclaps are kind of corny, I will admit to fancying the poppy synth beats at the beginning of 'We Were Made To Love', but Marriott's vocals again drag the track down to mediocrity. Of course, lyrics like "we were made to love, we're not the best at it" don't help much either. Which brings me right along to another beef: the lyrics are vacuous most of the time, which is to be expected I suppose for an album that was created by the teenage IWACS and is substantially comprised of sappy love songs.The album, I think, would have done better with a less polished, more rough around the edges sound than what Phil Collins producer Hugh Padgham constructed. I will concede that I didn't give it as much attention as I probably should have, but the album failed miserably in holding my attention. Or perhaps I'm just too old and cynical to appreciate a band so young; it's clear that IWACS are playing their hearts out, it's just too bad the music doesn't match their enthusiasm. 47%Links I Was A Cub Scout [official site] [myspace]