THE ROLLING STONE REVIEW
It's one thing to grow up poor and cynical, like Kurt Cobain. It's another to be raised in wealth and still be perpetually bummed and snarky, like Nirvana fan Joe Sumner, leader of the English guitar threesome Fiction Plane. "Touch me 'cause my daddy's rich," he sings in "Cigarette," and he's not kidding: Sting's his father. You can tell that from the younger Sumner's voice, but only when he whines, which is often. As you might guess, Fiction Plane suggest Nirvana crossed with early Police. That's a novel combo, and musically it works: Driven by session drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., the taut trio rocks on the beat's edge, impeccably anxious but in the groove. Yet there's little soul behind the smug discontent of tracks such as "I Wish I Would Die," and the well-played result sounds inconsequential. At the end of the day, Fiction Plane never feel real.
BARRY WALTERS
(From RS 919, April 3, 2003)
