From the first few bars of Pete Gardiner’s ‘Six String Love Stories’ we know exactly what we’re in for – introspective flights of fancy with shimmering acoustic guitar. There’s that harmonica solo for good measure. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What’s on offer here is agreeable enough; no songs are offensive and some are even damn catchy. Unfortunately there lies the problem. We’ve heard this done before. What’s more, we’ve heard it done a lot better and even still it’s the kind of musical territory that has us scrambling to switch the dial.

‘Six String Love Stories’ has very little core problems but equally no strong characteristics to keep the ship convincingly afloat. All the tracks are presented in much the same way with heartfelt vocals, polite introspection and tinkling piano for a true Hallmark effect. The lack of any true rhythmic instrumentation only adds to the sense that songs come and go in a bland strand of mediocrity. Much of the album alludes to the dire economic conditions of our times. Crime Scene, for example, lyrically goes for the throat but it’s hard to have a strong emotional response to a song that is so sugary and inoffensive. Hard Days sings from the same hymn sheet but essentially the listener is unconvinced.  Gardiner’s persistent attempts to mash social decline and the quest for love seem to dilute the message of both respective issues, leaving Ten Pounds in My Pocket to come across as preachy and heartfelt simultaneously in one muddled musical mess.

It’s perhaps unfair to criticise a songwriter for attempting to make an honest assessment on the economic climate we live in. The problem lies in the fact that there’s the impression of an individual slightly disgruntled by the times rather than outraged, an artist trapped in the confines of the minor niggles of middle class society. This can be rewarding if done with style – we’ve heard Arctic Monkeys, and even Kate Nash to a lesser extent, preach on the plight of the middle class youth in ways that engaged and even pointed to their absurdity. Gardiner’s voice is strong and he’s a decent singer songwriter, but in a genre that is overcrowded it just simply isn’t enough anymore.