To say this album was bad would be too harsh, it isn’t, it does possess some positive attributes; the production on the acoustic tracks is excellent, for example, and there are one or two tracks (such as Enemy) that have vaguely catchy hooks. But, that said, it does have a thick haze of Nizlopi clinging to it, with all the lyrical prowess of Scouting For girls or a dead cat.
In a modern world of enigmatic album titles and bizarre stage shows it is, however, refreshing to come across an act like Merchandise. ‘For The Masses’ probably couldn’t be more accurate or informative – their music is inoffensive and a little round at the edges – that said, there are one or two tracks that I wouldn’t consider out of place on my (admittedly optimistic) barbecue playlist; ‘You Were Right’ does have an almost Ibiza chill-out streak running through it which, though a little staid, is interesting and does have the desired effect. Similarly, ‘Lonesome Beauty’ is a song I could happily play in my car on a slow summer drive – it’s got a steady beat, a catchy tune and is interesting enough to keep me awake but not so interesting as to be distracting. Make of that what you will.

Having made the unpleasant comparisons above, I would say that ‘For The Masses’ also has a faint reverberation of Badly Drawn Boy echoing through some of the tracks; but it is faint, and the down-tempo tracks where Badly Drawn Boy excel feel a strained and the drawn out notes that don’t feature so much on the majority of the album and it’s upbeat track listing feel tired and out of singer Brad Wood’s comfort zone.

In ‘For The Masses’ Merchandise have produced a collection of mostly well-produced songs with one or two stand out tracks. But for me, as an album, it doesn’t work and I would be surprised if under different circumstances I had listened past track two.