Oh dear. There's an awful lot of this kind of music about: not inherently evil, not spearheading the global aspirations of some rotten corporation, or would-be media mogul or unctious star, just a little bit indie and not really good enough.

It begins well, though: She Walked for Miles is a lovely, haunted thing, singer Tammy Payne's voice blowing ghostly through a cavern of reverb, carrying by far the prettiest tune on A Thousand Dreamers while insistent bass smoulders beneath her. Unfortunately, nothing else lives up to this substantial initial promise.

Despite the involvement of producer Jim Barr (ex-Portishead), the other songs feel under-realised, Payne's vocal frequently sounding dry and colourless. Ploughing through the rest of the album hoping to find a little of the magic captured by She Walked for Miles becomes a hugely dispiriting experience. That's not to say that A Thousand Dreamers is a terrible record, simply terribly frustrating: pallid, a little parochial perhaps, lacking the spur or the chops to become exceptional.