APPARENTLY Dan Gillespie-Sells, lead singer of The Feeling, believes that you have to be entirely fearless when making music. It is a bit of a surprise, then, that his band have taken what is a safety-first approach on their new album, Join With Us. The

APPARENTLY Dan Gillespie-Sells, lead singer of The Feeling, believes that you have to be "entirely fearless" when making music.

It is a bit of a surprise, then, that his band have taken what is a safety-first approach on their new album, Join With Us.

The lavish production that characterised highly successful debut, 12 Stops to Home, is present once more, and The Feeling have added an extra dash of the 1980s thanks to their increased use of synthesizer.

Unfortunately the inane lyrics of 12 Stops... also remain. Gillespie-Sells tackles some big issues (the fall of the Berlin wall and high-school shootings), but somewhat ironically does so with little feeling.Of course The Feeling are not meant to be cool or groundbreaking, and will no doubt remain a guilty pleasure for many. But you get the impression that so little thought has gone into this record that 13 Stops From Home would have been a more appropriate title. 2/5

MATTHEW GOODING