Spearmint have been on the fringes of success for a couple of years now, always threatening to break through to a wider audience but never quite managing it. 'A Different Lifetime' is like a distillation of mid-90s pop and is quite comparable to The Lightning Seeds, particularly when singer Shirley Lee uses his keening, Ian Broudie-like vocals to emphasise the romantic longing at the heart of these songs. For these reasons there's a sense of old ground being re-trodden and half of this material (particularly the balladry) is a little too fey and lightweight to offer anything new and exciting. Nevertheless it is clear that when they put to mind to it Spearmint are capable of great things. Neat and subtle guitar riffs make 'Stealing Beauty' and 'The Moment In My Mind' stand out from the crowd but their best moment is 'Go' where they write their most heartbreaking melody; each displays songwriting craft that wouldn't feel embarrassed in the company of Prefab Sprout. It's the final two tracks which sum up their style; the apologetic, uninspired 'I'm So Sorry...' receives a convincing melancholic answer in 'You Are Forgiven'. 'A Different Lifetime' hardly sets the world alight but that won't be a problem if they are able to produce their best form on a consistent basis.