(Ministry of Sound Germany/Stomp)

Souvenirs is Ian Pooley’s third artist album after 2000’s Since Then and 1998’s Meridian and really continues the Latin flavour introduced in the former.  It’s been released on Ministry of Sound Germany and was recorded in both New Zealand and in Australia at Sydney’s renowned Floating Point Studios.  However, unlike its Latin counterpart Since Then, Souvenirs opts for a more sunny, accessible and commercial sound that is likely to sell well here in Australia considering its pre-summer release date.

Souvenirs is an album with two faces. One face shows the obvious, fluffy and soul-less side of Pooley’s song-writing in tracks like Hotel Boogie, All About You, Heaven, and Sentimento, all of which are pretty uninspiring, ‘bar-house by numbers’ tunes that have been done to death a hundred times over.  The other face however shows why Meridian, and to a lesser extent Since Then, were such good records.  It’s when Pooley opts for a more down-tempo rhythm in his song writing and where he decides to not over-state his music so much that he really shines.  Stonyridge Terrace is a brilliant down tempo cruiser with lovely guitar pieces, under-stated vocals and some sweet dreamy sounds and moods. Distant Love and Insel Passage are similarly dreamy and bookend the album nicely.  Tis such a shame these tracks have to bookend a selection of rather soul-less latin house tracks.

It begs the question, should new music be challenging and different? Should producers, especially of Pooley’s ilk, really try their hardest to do something a bit different with their precocious talents rather than produce something that, whilst likely to sell in great numbers, adds little to the library of significant music?  Souvenirs would have to be one of the most disappointing albums in a long time, and it’s made even more disappointing when you consider that the person who made the music has previously written some of the finest house music to spin on a 1200 in the past 5 years or so.

Sure, some people will like the album’s commercial appeal, easy listening and easy ignorable latin house and bossa nova for your Saturday night cocktail party or Sunday arvo bbq. However, if you are after something a bit different, something you feel like you haven’t heard before that may challenge you a bit then stay away from this release, you’d be better off buying his previous two releases.  Come on Mr Pooley, we know you can do much better than this. Please.