The Capsules embellish proficient indie rock with dark and dusky dance beats, made lush and bright with the opulent girl-next-door Julie Shields on vocals. Their songs have been used in several video games, including the megahit Borderlands 2 and enviably they've had a song featured on Spongebob Squarepants...

Northern Lights & Southern Skies is the new album from The Capsules. I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed this release, I couldn't help feeling that the band and vocalist, Julie Shields, were just going through the motions. The performance was a little stilted and I got no emotion at all from the tracks.

While I enjoyed Northern Lights & Southern Skies, Each track did tend to merge into the next, and even though I listened to the album repeatedly over a weekend I didn't come away feeling that any of the songs stood out or had really caught my attention. If I had to stick my neck out and choose just one track that was worth listening to, it would have to be 'All At Once', which has an interesting retro electronic opening.

On the whole, this is background music that will suffice as you do something more interesting.

7

Nick Smithson