The Dø - Both Ways Open Jaws

(Village Green)

There’s so much charming naivety on The Dø’s second album it makes you feel nauseous. The French/Finnish boy/girl duo can write a catchy song but lack any kind of mettle, sounding like a summer school recording project, complete with sub-Gwen Stefani playground chants on ‘Slippery Slope’.

‘Dust It Off’ indeed dusts off the familiar combination of synth, Björk-esque ethereal female vocals and skittering electronics, ‘Bohemian Dances’ is a didgeridoo dirge that is as annoying as its title suggests (especially when the word ‘dancing’ is pronounced ‘dauncing’ throughout), and ‘The Calendar’ is basically a quirk-pop update of Craig David’s ‘Seven Days’. Only the beautiful strings and Bowie-borrowing guitar line of ‘Too Insistent’ stand out amid all the self-satisfied wholesomeness.