Experiments In Mass Appeal

British producer/songwriter Jem Godfrey is known for his work with commercial popsters like Atomic Kitten, Holly Valance, Cherie, and the all-female Swedish group Play; he has a long list of Top 40 and dance-pop credits on his resume. But Godfrey's band Frost* doesn't sound anything like the aforementioned artists. Frequently hard-rocking but usually moody, introspective, and melancholy, Frost's second full-length album, Experiments in Mass Appeal, definitely won't be mistaken for glossy, escapist dance-pop. Frost* have often been described as "neo-prog," which isn't misleading but doesn't quite tell the whole story, either. Experiments in Mass Appeal is best described as a mixture of alternative pop/rock and progressive rock; there is a prog element on gloomy tracks such as "Saline," "Welcome to Nowhere," and "Falling Down," but alternative pop/rock is really the album's main ingredient. This 2008 release never makes a conscious effort to emulate Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Rush, King Crimson, or any other progressive rockers who were big in the 1970s; Experiments in Mass Appeal is an album that could only come about in a post-Nevermind, post-Kurt Cobain world. So if one is going to call Frost*'s brooding work "neo-prog," it is important to understand that alternative is the "neo" part. Given that Frost* are such a departure from all the slick dance-pop that Godfrey has produced and/or written, it is clear that he was being very ironic when he called this album Experiments in Mass Appeal -- and even though this type of material isn't without commercial appeal (alternative pop/rock artists have been enjoying mainstream status and headlining huge soccer stadiums for a long time), Frost* aren't blatantly commercial in the way that Atomic Kitten and Valance are blatantly commercial. Experiments in Mass Appeal is mildly uneven; some of the songs work better than others. But all things considered, Godfrey does a decent job of showing listeners what he has to offer when he unites alternative pop/rock with elements of progressive rock. ~ Alex Henderson