Frankmusik - Complete Me

'Complete Me' is the kaleidoscopic sound collage of Frankmusik's brain, once he's dismantled his record collection and pieced it back together again. Drafting in a strong 80s influence, house music, disco, heartbreak ballads and a strong pop sensibility, there's a lot going on to interest even the most casual of music fan on his 13-song debut.

Familiar tracks, 'Instep' and 'Better Off As Two', are the kind of shiny retro-futuristic pieces which have earnt the London producer a steadily-growing fanbase. Slicked-up by high-end production and gleaming synths, these are highly melodic songs that set the bar-high early on in the record. But despite the worship-heavy reviews and praise forwarded to the producer before the release of the LP, or the very-now sounds of electropop coming from the speakers, 'Complete Me' isn't quite the spectacular album it should be.

Particularly on 'Confusion Girl', and 'Your Boy', the standard drops. The first is a radio-friendly attempt to score a top 10 hit (yet narrowly scraped the top 30), and the second is a piano-ballad, which wrongly focuses attention to the hindrance that is his one-tone vocal; a Marmite voice if there ever was one. Like La Roux star Elly Jackson, there's only so long ears can withstand warbling, whiny singing before it begins to grate.

Split in two, 'Complete Me' falls between pure pop gold and nauseating cheese. Sadly, it falls into the latter category far too often.