Truth be told, the name Slightly Generic is not only bloody awful (guys, why the Hell call yourself a name where reviewers can poke fun at you with ease?!) but it’s also unfortunate. The band are generic as Hell. There’s nothing here lots of other bands haven’t already covered and done so, so much better. But you know what? I actually enjoyed this three-tracker. Musically it’s not so great. At times it’s sloppy and poorly performed. But the band play with their hearts on their sleeve and play with a smile and you have to admire them.
Opener ‘ELR’, for instance, is often out of time and out of tune but the band’s attempts at vocal harmonies and their ability to write a song that’s exceedingly catchy outweighs the mistakes that litter the tune. And I like their enthusiasm – even though they’re not the best singers in the world they sing with passion and belt the songs out as if their lives depended on it. ‘Cold Calling’ suffers from some strange key changes, but again the band try and write catchy choruses and you can’t knock them for that. Even ‘3outof5’ is apt because that’s the score I;d guess most reviewers would give them.
Ultimately there are better bands that write better songs, but Slightly Generic seem happy with the fact they’re having fun writing and performing catchy songs. They know their limitations and embrace them. And for that alone you have to give them some credit.