Up Country? What...Blackpool?!
Produced by NME Producer of the Year Jagz Kooner (dubious honour; ridiculous name), 'Up Country' is the debut single from duo Mancini - and it's a rather damp squib indeed.
Pitched somewhere between Sneaker Pimps, Garbage and the glorious plastic-pop of The Cardigans, 'Up Country' fails miserably to match any of them; bored this listener almost to tears and deserves to be found only at your local Oxfam...in the bin marked "Not Wanted". Yes, the vocals are assured, the beats strong and the guitars viscous but it's not new, it's not big and it's certainly not clever.
To sum up: 'Up Country' sounds like a Girls Aloud album track with four less girls, one plus guy and a few guitars...hardly revolutionary.
Most outrageously of all, frontwoman Iraina Mancini has been described as a "femme fatal" by the record hacks. What the hell does this mean? Do they mean "femme fatale" or do they know something we don't - like Iraina is really Jason Statham in disguise and has whipped up a single while on a sabbatical from the filming of 'Cranked a.k.a Crank 2'? Answers on a postcard to Jimmy Saville.
'Up Country' is accompanied by five (count 'em) remixes that serve only to authenticate the maxim: "you can't polish a turd". Give me Big Country any day of the week.