Daughterboy Jao (pronounced Jay-O) are a three-piece band hailing from somewhere in Melbourne. While they were initially a duo, drummer Dave Nicholls approached bassist Emma Forrest and singer/guitarist Oliver Jao Smith after a gig, telling them that they could be so much better if he was in the band.

Ever since then, the band have had quite a great deal of success, signing to a major for the release of their debut record and supporting acts like The Black Keys. But how does their music shape up in comparison to the lofty reputation they have been tagged with?

Kicking off with One Last Time, it becomes very obvious that Daughterboy Jao have taken a lot from their hip, garage-rock contemporaries. Quite frankly it sounds just a little bit too similar to something The White Stripes or Black Keys may have thrown on the scrap heap for it to make any real impact.

Better For You & Me has the exact same effect. Smith’s drawl is awfully reminiscent of Jack White as does the simplistic, at times bluesy guitar work.

I had to laugh after the first ten seconds of title track, Simple Matters, as I think I finally understood what the band has attempted to do. This isn’t original music, ladies and gentlemen, this is The All Australian Early 21st Century Ultra Hip Garage Rock Tribute Band! I only came to this conclusion after hearing the startling similarities between this song and something that The Strokes might throw on their next record.

Don’t get me wrong, I mean this as nicely as possible. The record is incredibly listenable and will more than likely be a favourite at parties and live shows around Australia for quite some time, but it does not really do anything for the humble listener at home.

The darkness of Cures and Curses, rollicking good-time pub rock of Everywhere You Run, the grunge-lite Evil Is Known As and the dream like pop of Now Will You Sleep are the better points of the record – but still do not jump out as particularly brilliant songs.

The recording sounds very flat, for some reason. Maybe this is partly due to the fact that the arrangements and instrumentation of the songs is very simple, thus engineer Paul McKercher did not really have anything to work with in order to give the songs a little more depth. The justification from the band’s biography is that the space in the mix allows the songs to do what they do. Well, I’m sorry, but the songs don’t really do anything as it is…

I can see a lot of people enjoying this record, it will not challenge anyone’s perceptions of music, it is not too loud and it is not too soft, it just sits in the middle. The problem with records like this, apart from the fact that they tend to bore a lot of people as well, is the fact that it is so disposable that it will more than likely be forgotten within the space of a year or two.

Of course this review would not be complete without the usual complaint about the stupid copy-control EMI have put on this CD. I was unable to listen to it on any system except for my portable discman, and even then I could not hear anything between the nine and thirteen second mark. If anyone at home can prove to me that the record’s brilliance lies within this four-second space, feel free to let me know and I will reconsider this review.