Joe Sumner's keening tenor wail may sound vaguely familiar if you've listened to the early work of his father's old band, a little post-punk outfit called The Police. But as frontman for this new trio, the eldest son of Gordon Sumner - aka Sting - seems determined to walk his own beat. Nineties college rock is a clear influence on moody but driving tracks such as Listen to My Babe and Real Real, but the band's lean, muscular playing and canny atmospherics also nod to power pop and electronica. Lyrics-wise, Joe shares with Dad, and many other literate English songwriters, a certain fondness for dark melodrama. Luckily, Fiction Plane wears its melancholy more stylishly than most young navel-gazers.
Gardner
usa today 3/19/03
