Obi Best – Capades

Previously back-up singer for Californian electro-jazz act Bird and the Bee, Alex Lilly's solo debut under the Obi Best moniker is airy synth-pop informed by lounge and trip hop. Not as innovative or subversive as an in-form Bjork or Goldfrapp, it mimics the lighter end of both artists' output. Closer in spirit to the whimsical electro of Moloko or latter-day peddlers of cute leftfield pop such as Psapp, Capades' tunes are mostly easy on the ear and infectiously poppy. However, the lyrics and self-consciously chipper manner of singing are just too affected to take seriously.Opener 'Nothing Can Come Between Us' displays her rather maddeningly whimsical sense of melody but comes good when some little squalls of guitar add bite to its fluffy piano pop. 'Who Loves You Now' is the most successful synthesis of Lilly's frivolity and ear for layered, saccharin harmonies. Replete with her considerable arsenal of artificial sweeteners, it tinkles and burbles with all the art pop vacuity of Air's Moon Safari. The rumbling Black Sabbath-esque bass of 'What It's Not' turns out to be a sickly-sweet red herring in a song with a chorus so grating it would make Alanis Morrisette blush. Much of the rest is a coo-cooing sameness, Lily's vocals not distinctive enough to add weight to the faux-naive, muzak-like sheen to her music.While Lilly's lyrics might seek to evoke something more ethereal, Capades' knowingly vapid, airy texture keeps it nauseatingly close to elevator music. She uses muzak as a sonic paint brush with an obligatory ironic wink but ulitmately fails to recontextualize or subvert the mood with sufficient imagination or dynamism. There is a fine line between cute and annoying of course, and it is a line Lilly walks like a tightrope. Even when she is in a misanthropic mood (on 'It's Because of People Like You'), the Fisher Price moog synths and la-la-la-ing rather undermine the vitriol. The baritone vocal loops of the strangely nautical 'Orgami' works best, creating a kind of off-kilter pop, embellished (like 'Swedish Boy', incongruously), with one-finger oriental melodies on what sounds like a toy keyboard. Otherwise large parts of Capades' drift into the background, too lightweight to grab this listener's attention. This has all been done many times before, and the bandwagon has long departed. 40%Obi Best on MySpace