Following hot on the heels of The Stills' album, The Dears are another Canadian act who are paying their respects to British indie music of the last twenty years. It seems to be a popular formula at present and The Dears wear their influences more clearly than many of their compatriots. For instance, Murray Lightburn seems to have inherited the same vocal chords as Blur's Damon Albarn whilst the music itself - a brand of melancholic, anthemic rock - compares to most acts who would really like to have been in The Smiths. Derivate though it is, 'No Cities Left' is sometimes brilliant. The emotional surge of 'We Can Have It' is a great way to start any record, 'No Cities Left' is dangerous and dynamic-sounding with a chorus that rips through the night sky like a bolt of lightning and 'The Second Part' saunters between the doleful and the dramatic with some panache. Unfortunately it's just before the second half of the record where The Dears forget what made them good in the first place; The 'Expect The Worst/'Cos She's A Tourist' "suite" moves from a comfortably languid guitar to an ill-advised jazz odyssey. The songs seem to last for longer, the arrangements more ambitious and on the near-eight minutes of 'Postcard From Purgatory' there's a pompous non-tune which Tears For Fears could have written ten years ago. As with most records which last more than an hour, some serious pruning should have been applied to this particular epic before it was released in the public domain.