The second album from U.K. electronic dance collective
Faithless,
Sunday 8pm has neither the rampant grooves nor the arrogant idealism to qualify it as anything more than a random, standard dancefloor record with redundant beats and hoary ideas. Clearly, though, more was intended; the theme running throughout
Sunday 8pm is one that celebrates club life with an almost religious enthusiasm. The dreamy soundscapes here alternate between elegantly spiritual (and very new age) drifts and dull, tuneless forays into spacy nowhereland -- and the occasional misguided R&B trips lack soul (not all that surprising, considering the coldness of this band's electronica). The one keeper is "God Is a DJ," eight minutes of club worship that repeats the refrain "This is my church" so relentlessly that you begin to wonder if the
Faithless altar includes a turntable and synthesizer along with the usual celebratory offerings. ~ Michael Gallucci