Furniture — Food, Sex And Paranoia album review

FURNITURE
Food, Sex And Paranoia
(Arista 210377/CD) ★★

IT'S NIGH on four years since 'Brilliant Mind' wormed its catchy way into the higher echelons of the charts. In the interim, apart from sell-out tours of countries where the youth are so desperate to experience the Western thang they'd happily groove out to the sounds of British dustmen emptying bins, Furniture have achieved effectively bugger all.

'Food, Sex And Paranoia' is, predictably, just another innocuous dose of the synthetic pop espoused by the likes of Hipsway and The Adventures. All fair enough in its time and place — not 1990 or my record player. 'Slow Motion Kisses', the only inspiring track, calls on more Talk Talk-y leanings, but where it took Talk Talk four LPs to become dull parodies of themselves, Furniture have managed this in an impressive two. If the mid-'80s is your scene, 'Food, Sex And Paranoia' warrants a look-in; otherwise, file under anonymous.

Robyn Smyth