Gary Go hit the music press headlines when he was confirmed as the official opening act for Take That’s UK tour this June – a dream opportunity for any new artist (at least one who doesn’t mind Take That).  And now, with perfect timing, comes his self-titled debut album.

I feel bad about knocking it – it’s a good first album, but not much more than that.  It’s very commercial, the comparisons made by Q magazine calling Gary Go ‘a one man Coldplay’ are justified, and I thought I detected a hint of Snow Patrol in there as well. 

The first half of the album has a fairly routine selection of songs with slow build-ups to punchier choruses, the second half  seems a little more downbeat, but then after “Wonderful” little else could be more upbeat.  I was able to catch some intelligent lyrics in there, but generally the whole album is not a long laster.

Self-taught, self-produced – you’ve got to hand it to him, he’s made it a long way through his own persistence.  Fingers crossed he can get to a more interesting second album.  It’s an assured first album, and hints at great potential.