On this follow-up to 2012's
M&W,
Sid have played it safer than ever. Starting the album with a trancey keyboard lick that sounds like
Jean Michel Jarre, "Laser" is a perfectly crafted pop/rock nugget that sums up everything that is good about
Sid. From there on in, however, it sounds at times like the formula is starting to wear thin. The band are adept at incorporating myriad styles: funky, crunchy blues-rock on "Candy"; frantic Euro-disco funk on "Music"; a lush string arrangement on "Akai Te" ("Red Hand"); Latin jazz on "Koi ni Ochite" ("Falling in Love"). But the songs are so tick-all-the-boxes that they sound as if they were written by committee. The '70s are all over this album, with the influences of disco, funk, AM radio rock, smooth adult pop, and Latin jazz all whipped up into a fluffy, lighter-than-air mousse. Some of these songs are cheesy beyond belief: "Summer Lover," "Meiro" ("Labyrinth"), and the plodding ballad "Hug" are simply aural wallpaper -- fantastic background music, but it doesn't stand up to close listening. It's not that this is a bad album per se, just one that plays it very, very safe. That said, it's impossible to entirely dislike. There are moments of greatness here, like the trancecore-lite of "Darling" with its incongruous acoustic guitar solo that somehow just works; the aforementioned "Laser"; the joyous, effervescent single "VIP"; and vivacious album closer "Anniversary," complete with faux harpsichord. And while the worst cuts are simply throwaway, even the album's middling tracks are strangely compelling. Ultimately, it is a supreme irony that
Sid have called the safest, stalest, most lightweight album of their career "
Outsider." They sounded like a major band even in their indie days, and if there were an award for "band least likely to commit commercial suicide," they would surely win it. ~ John D. Buchanan