Follow up album to the 2006 release, The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing, by Toronto artist Shaw-han Liem. Uphill City is in much the same vein as its predecessor, a melodic electronic pop album stitched together by light keyboard melodies, piano, and subtle dollops of guitar and drums.

However, Uphill City does not improve or progress a template that we’re already familiar with from Liem’s previous release. It’s aesthetic is equally poppy, bright and welcoming, but doesn’t contain nearly as many standout tracks, in fact no matter how many times I play Uphill City I always struggle to find anything that feels warmly familiar or worthy of returning to.

The track Island Life does introduce woodwinds, courtesy of Jeremy Strachan, and therefore has a more varied expression, but it’s also the shortest track at just 2:31 minutes. Indeed, Uphill City would have fared a lot better with more tracks like this to vary Liem’s musical palette, but as it is, much of what is on offer is simply too bland and repetitive to get excited about; even as background music it fades into obscurity.

If you want to check out this artist, The Electricity In Your House Wants To Sing still remains your first port of call.