Aurora - 'The Album', is the long-awaited album from the fluffy pop protagonists of 'Dreaming' and 'Ordinary World' fame.

The opening track, the top ten single 'Dreaming', is an ideal way to open the album in a pleasant enough dithery 'walking through meadows way' guitar strumalong. This unsuccessfully merges into a pseudo-trance arrangement for track two, which is thankfully kept separate from track three, the highlight of the album, 'Ordinary World', featuring the haunting vocals of Naimee Coleman. With it's shifting bass line and trills, it's really quite likeable, like the moody 'Your Mistake', which duly follows.

'Hushaby', which can also be described as 'Your Mistake: Part 2', begins to irritate me, with it's warm euro-trance style vocals (think Fragma's ennerving chain of miming blondes, and you get the pictures). More euro-trance, of the bearable variety returns to the forefront of the action with 'In My Skin' and'This Can't Be Love'. 'If You Could Read My Mind' heads off a trilogy of competent enough, but unmemorable guitar and piano-based mood music songs.

To cut a long story short, this album is pleasant enough, but gratingly boring, I couldn't wait for it to be over. You're crying for more variety and passion, it's a sexless demon.* Go and Listen to SiKTh or the Turin Brakes, and they'll show you what passion really is.*