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Struggling To Rise The album title is apt, and for this group, it apparently has been a struggle they weren't particularly keen on pursuing (but as teenagers, I can't say that I blame them too much.) Their music has much to recommend it, it is cheerful, energetic and usually catchy, with a sound that is reminiscent at times of Erasure and other Vince Clark projects. But the music also has some flaws as well, especially in that much of the album sounds an awful lot alike. In particular, their dance tracks, which are usually their best ones, all sounds nearly indistinguishable. Johan's vocals are also pretty much all done in the same style (which sounds occasionally like he's stretching to the limits of his range because they thought synthpop had to be high tenor) even when some more vocal personality would really make certain songs stand out a little bit. The synth voices are limited in variety and generally high pitched, with weak base lines. The song structures are pretty much the same as well (with a faster and slower variety.) Because of this sameness, it's almost hard to give my standard track-by-track, but I'll dig in and give it my best, listening to it as I write it to try and pick up any nuances (if I can find them.) The CD starts out with "Listen to my Song" which is one of the fast songs. It sounds like a typical introduction to the band, with lyrics about how important it is to listen to their songs (duh!) and all that. The song lacks personality compared to some of the other fast songs. "Spinning Around," another fast song, also lacks personality in many ways, with a lifeless chorus that ensures the song never seems to get anywhere. However, the next two songs, "Candy" and "Blue Love" are good songs with both personality and energy. Both are fun as well, which is Another Mission's strong point. "Wanna Make Sure" is a little slower, and less memorable. "Display" is interesting because it actually sounds quite a bit differnent than the rest of the songs on the CD. Johan sings in a lower voice than normally, and surprisingly, he sounds more comfortable there. It tries to be a little bit more moody, and it actually works too. Although the song itself isn't wonderful, the fact that it's different makes it seem to really stand out. "Love is the Way" is another decent fast song, although the chorus relies too much on too few notes, for a less than catchy melody. Somewhat better is "Radionoise," which sounds quite a bit like "Candy" and "Blue Love" which is a good thing, since those were the best songs of the first half of the album. "Artificial Man" is a nod towards the Swedish sci-fi synthpop scene championed by groups like SPOCK and Daily Planet in theme at least, although it still sounds an awful lot like the peppy, extremely light dance beats of earlier fast songs here. "Sweet Memories" is a slow song, and unfortunately, it is too long and a little boring. The last two tracks, "Ways of Life" and "Bubbles" are both fast as well, and also are really good like some of the others because they have energy and verve. Both also feature a little bit different sounds, which makes them even better. The interesting chorus on "Bubbles" is especially noteworthy. All in all, not a bad album, and it's disappointing that they're not planning on continuing in the genre. They could have really made waves eventually if they had stuck it out and developed their talents more.