Solo Chip

Rubbed Out, the debut solo album from the spectacled Hot Chip front man Alexis Taylor, is very much an album of two halves. The first contains a beautiful collection of tender ballads while the second seems to be an odds and sods of unfinished half ideas.

Fireworks, Rubbed Out’s looping static filled opener, is followed by Plastic Man where Taylor spills his heart out, singing delicately with only a synth organ masking his frailties. Paul McCartney cover Coming Up is equally delicate, though this time the organ is replaced with a sparsely strummed electric guitar. The overall effect is totally different, showing the singer’s strengths rather than human weaknesses.

Baby and Girl are more upbeat groove driven pleas to lovers current and future, while I Thought This Was Ours is another slow love lost ballad.

I’m Not A Robber is a highlight and the closest Rubbed Out gets to the feeling of Taylor’s regular band.

Taylor has said that Rubbed Out was "tailored in places, planes, hotel rooms and at home". It is from Collector’s Item onwards that the disparity of recording environments is felt, nothing really stands out nor does it fit together.

On a whole Rubbed Out could have been released as a brilliant EP; rather, it is half a good album.