The Pigeon Detectives: 'Emergency'

The Pigeon Detectives' work ethic is undeniably impressive: 363 days since they released their debut LP, Wait For Me, they're already back with album number two. During that period the band have certainly earned their rock star stripes, dragging their bodies around the UK's ever-expanding festival circuit and gigging at what seems like every music venue in the land. Their fist-pumping anthems 'I Found Out', 'Romantic Type' and 'Take Her Back' earned scant praise from the critics, but, as two recent sell-out shows at Leeds's Millennium Square proved, the fans can't seem to get enough.

First time around the band used a very simple recipe for musical success: perky riffs, wobbly guitar solos, choruses that rattle along like express trains and a few "woah-woahs" and "ba-ba-bah" harmonies chucked in for good measure. The new album? Well, it's pretty much the same. Scratch that - it's exactly the same.

The Pidges may well be one-trick ponies, but, to be fair to them, they pull off that trick pretty well. They've nicked the Kaisers' sprightly pop-punk template, turned the guitars up a few notches and cut out the rubbish slow numbers. Producer Stephen Street adds clout to the band's anthemic tendencies here, and on numbers like 'I'm A Liar' and 'Say It Like You Mean It' they sound like they have the potential to become genuine stadium rockers.

Unfortunately, while they may be haemorrhaging tunes at an alarming rate, the band often come unstuck lyrically. The never-ending tales of love, girls and more girls was jolly good fun first time around, but here it smacks of laziness. Worse still, the blunt sneers of 'Love You For A Day (Hate You For A Week)' and arrogant machismo of 'Everybody Wants Me' provide plenty of ammunition for those who accuse the band of being lairy, loutish and occasionally borderline misogynist.

Ultimately, to say that The Pigeon Detectives are purveyors of meat 'n' potatoes rock would be to do a disservice to that bland British dish and everyone who prepares it. The scraggly Northern rockers can knock out radio-friendly tunes by the dozen, but with songs as formulaic as 'I'm Not Gonna Take This' and first single 'This Is An Emergency', it's hardly surprising that they work with such speed. If you're looking for emotion and intrigue, you'd be better off renting a Paris Hilton movie.

Emergency captures a moment in The Pigeon Detectives' lives, but unfortunately for listeners it's not a very interesting one. After a year on the road, the band sound slick and well-primed, but creatively they've reached a dead-end. As laudable as their tireless enthusiasm is, unless they take a break soon The Pigeon Detectives are in real danger of running out of steam.