Album Review: Gold Fields - Black Sun

Gold Fields' debut album, Black Sun, has been birthed from the bush, with a smattering of LA glitter sprinkled over the top, creating this year's new Cut Copy. Or Friendly Fires. Or Midnight Juggernauts. And that's where the issue lies. Hear these songs without a precursor of information and you're left scratching your head, deliberating over just which indie dance act is behind them.

Meet My Friends and Thunder offer up some Klaxons neon-pop, with synth tones layered in the background to provide that intergalactic party vibe. It's catchy, but it's been done before. Dark Again is rooted with a sun-kissed nature that's all too familiar. The guts of the album meanders, the latter parts have, thanks to triple j saturation, been heard ad nauseum, and by the time your listening experience is over the whole record has lingered and left you like a dream; that is to say it's memorable for a fleeting moment following the experience, but is more or less forgotten directly after.

Let's be clear, though: the production is perfect; the musicianship across the board is tight – there's not a note missed. It's just that the songs are so beige that the colour used to create them is all but smothered. Black Sun sounds like it was tailored specifically for the Saturday afternoon crowd at Universal Store. Hell, even the pictures throughout the album booklet look like T-shirt designs for next seasons' range.

Live, the Ballarat five-piece inject these songs with the impassioned lifeblood they need. Left on record, they simply limp along. The guys have talent to burn, they just need to discover and embrace their own identity.