Is the grass is always greener on the other side of the Atlantic? For some odd reason, American indie bands mimic brit-pop, the Fall, and shoegazers while British pop bands inevitably try to work more Pavement and Sonic Youth elements into their sounds. Blur guitarist, Graham Coxon follows suit with a rough collection of lo- lo- sub- fi, a- boy- and- his- guitar pop songs. Coxon freaks a guitar like few others, so you'd expect (and hope) his solo album to be chock- a- block with noisy noodling (i.e. a sloppier Blur's Blur). As Chuck D once said, "Don't believe the hype."

The Sky Is Too High is rushed and incomplete, recorded in secrecy perhaps or on the road. With production qualities equivalent to a boombox in a mop closet, the songs come across like rough demos to what could have been incredible songs. The grittiest, noisiest moments satiate. "Who The Fuck?" is basically "Bank Holiday" fused with Sonic Youth. Vacuuming guitars on "That's All I Wanna Do" crush crashing percussion. Repetitious strumming bursts into feedback hooks on "I Wish." But the rest of the tracks are early Elliott Smith/ Noise Addict throwaways, at best.

This all seems a desperate attempt on Coxon's part to distance himself from the teen poster pop icon image. He wants people to know he really listens to Ornette Coleman, Nick Drake, and Unwound in his spare time. His schedule (shed-jew-ewl) must be pretty tight being in a huge rock band, but more time spent on this record could have proven very valuable.

-Brent DiCrescenzo