It took four years for the English pop-rock duo The Ting Tings to release “Sounds from Nowheresville”, which is quite a bit of time in the world of popular music.
In 2008, Katie White and Jules de Martino hit the billboards with “We Started Nothing,” a powerful album that edgily mixes rock with pop and was well received with critics and audiences. The singles released from that album such as, “Shut Up and Let Me Go” and “That’s Not My Name” topped the billboards and were featured in a number of television commercials.
Unfortunately, four years was not enough time for White and Martino to come up with an album as fresh and powerful as “We Started Nothing”.
While Katie White still provides her high, almost whiny, voice that is perfect for pop music and Martino does deliver with his lead guitar work, bass, and fresh beats, it seems that The Ting Tings gave up on “Sounds from Nowheresville” about halfway during the recording process.
“Silence” does a good job of opening up the album with White holding out her notes and a droning synthesizer that is supported by marching drumbeat. As the song progresses, it gets more complex with melodic synthesizers and electric guitars that are minimally used but really shred into the ear. This song has more of an inspiring electronic sound than a pop one.
A perfect example of a pop-rock song can be found in “Hang It Up”. White really delivers with a melody that is in-your-face and edgy, but really catchy and fun at the same time. It is a simple song with crunching guitar chords and a heavy beat that features White wailing “I wanna write about setting something free, all these changes drive us back to the sea.”
One can really feel the angst and desperation that The Ting Tings put out in “Give It Back” with the hard rock guitar and drums that features both White and Martino arrogantly singing together. The guitars are fast and are trailed by the drums in a perfect succession that one can’t wait but to hear the next beat.
“Guggenheim” is an odd and simple song. The verses consist of a simple guitar riff layered with light cymbals and White almost singing so slow that it sounds like a spoken word song. White explodes with her high voice and bashing drums in the chorus as she sings “This time I’m gonna get it right, I’m gonna paint my face like the Guggenheim.” It is after this track it seems, that The Ting Tings just gave up on trying to make a great album and settled for making a mediocre one.
“Soul Killing” features a reggae sound that has just been overplayed in pop music since the late ‘90s. “One by One” is a very dance-like techno song that sounds nothing like The Ting Tings and is almost hard to listen to with its repetitive beat and White’s drawn out moaning.