You and Others

Interestingly, the press kit for You and Others, the second album by London dad-rock quartet Vega 4, selectively glosses over any mention of the band's 2003 debut album Satellites, basically presenting the group as a new band. Overall, though, You and Others isn't a departure from Vega 4's debut album, or from any of the other post-Coldplay U.K. pop bands it sounds so much like. The singles "You and Me" and "Life Is Beautiful" are catchy pop-rockers in the general style of Travis and Snow Patrol: Johnny McDaid's earnest vocals and Bruce Gainsford's U2-derived guitar sounds will sound comfortingly familiar to anyone who knows Chris Martin as more than Gwyneth's husband and Apple's dad. The rest of You and Others is similarly inoffensive: tuneful, at times very much so, but with absolutely no surprises, from the bombastic "Papercuts" to the almost folkish swirl of "A Billion Tons of Light." Look for pretty much every song on this album to play over the closing scene of one soapy TV drama or another during the 2007-2008 season.