(Universal)

He’s not quite a bird of a different feather, but he has been noticed

Sam Sparro is Australian-born but was raised in L.A. and honed his music in London. Essentially hip-swinging soul-pop with both electronic groove and funk elements and a good dose of retro stylings, this debut album ends up straddling a variety of connected club-shaped sounds. One moment (on 21st Century Life), he’s unleashing bubbling Daft Punk funk with a human face (most of the time, at least) and less obvious electronics, the next (Sick) he seems to have tuned into the synth-pop bands of ‘80s Britain, then he’s dropping into cool crooner mode for Waiting For Time (but with electro blips), some ‘80s disco-funk in Clingwrap, some George Clinton-flavoured funk for Cottonmouth and so on, ending virtually in jazz piano mode in an unlisted track, Still Hungry. Sparro skilfully threads his way through all this but doesn’t manage to avoid a generic feel at times. But apart from those odd moments of all-too-familiar averageness (Recycle It!, Too Many Questions), Sparro still serves up a flavoursome mix of floor-friendly tunes, one of which – Black And Gold – has already been picked up overseas as the newest club anthem.

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BILL HOLDSWORTH

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