Everything is Fine play down-tempo rock positing a slower, blurrier OK Computer-era Radiohead, but with a less compelling frontman and a fatal lack of energy. Frontman Mark Joseph Manning's introverted, unhappy monologue of a performance is bleak, but it's not just bleak, it's uninteresting -- as lacking in nuance as it is depressing. The same goes for the music as a whole. Nearly every melody, every rhythmic element and every song in The Ghosts Are Knocking On The Walls is limp and tired, as though we've just found them hanging from a noose, refusing to kick or scream as their last breaths leave them. This resignation is hardly attractive.

A few songs, obvious beneficiaries of a little extra effort, show a few more signs of life. In songs like standout track "Cold Click", "Dark Houses" and "Half Hour", clean strumming over distorted and reverb-heavy guitars and synths gives Everything is Fine an edgier, fuller and more textured dynamic that only serves to enhance the dark mood prevalant throughout the album. Dry acoustic numbers such as "Burning Coals", however, are less engaging thanks to sleepy rhythms and static melodies.

The dead weight of these acoustic tracks is enough to obscure what charm the others have. The Ghosts Are Knocking On The Walls has an undeniable but muted glow. Everything is Fine will need a little polish before their sound can shine the way it really should, and they'll need a little life in them if we're going to be expected to notice either way.