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The Irrepressibles are not your average band. Creating music to show a straight person what it feels like to be gay and in love was certainly not at the top of Oasis’s list of priorities. Add to that a wardrobe to make Byron blush and the Irrepressibles immediately appear very interesting and, quite possibly, important.

Formed by former music student and Scarborough local Jamie McDermott, the band have been around in various forms since forming at the University of Westminster in 2002, and now find themselves signed to V2 Records. A troupe of ten, The Irrepressibles debut, Mirror Mirror, is the time for them to show that they have substance to match their quite undeniable style.

From the album’s opening line of ‘My friend Jo, is a crazy bitch’, you are immediately in Irrepressibles territory: it’s over the top, camp and McDermott shows his vocal dexterity from the off. The follow up, ‘I’ll Maybe Let You’, plods along until the inevitable string section and by the time ‘In Your Eyes’ begins McDermott’s secret is well and truly out of the closet: he sounds exactly like Antony Hegarty from the magnificent Antony and The Johnsons. Unfortunately, he doesn’t write to Hegarty’s standard and the first three tracks sound as if McDermott believes that a crazy costume and great, if erringly familiar, voice will carry The Irrepressibles through.

‘Anvil’ is the first sign of light and possess something so far lacking, a tune. McDermott’s vocal style shines, rising and falling with the driving strings. Follow this with ‘Forget The Past’ and the album appears rescued from the pit in which it originally buried itself. Sounding as if McDermott has broken the hearts of Hegarty and Morrissey and recorded the weepy results, it’s a minor triumph. The following songs could make this record a success but instead return to the formula of grandiose singing and the use of about fourteen instruments too many. The songs are often not bad, but rather merely boring, though some do make at you look at things in a different way. When listening to ‘Splish! Splash! Sploo!’, for example, I looked at a pencil and wondered how I could use it to pierce my eardrum. This dire track sounds like a chorus from an awful musical, performed by the residents of a small village outside of Guildford.

The final offering, ‘In This Shirt’, raises the standard once more but the album is beyond saving. There is a large space between great and dire but The Irrepressibles manage to straddle it: they are either hugely self-confident or lack any sense of quality control. If you want a record which addresses sexuality whilst making beautiful, important music, buy The Johnson’s I Am A Bird Now. If you want a handful of good songs and a chance to hear what an art school sounds like when it gets out of hand, buy Mirror Mirror.

Ian Brown’s sixth solo record, My Way, immediately appears from the title and arrogant cover photo to be a typical Brown-esque statement; this is what I do, like it or fook off! However, there is more to appreciate here than simple Manc charm on a record with great hooks and incredible production, with Brown’s long-term collaborator, Dave McCracken, at the helm.

Starting with lead single ‘Stellify’ you are immediately in classic Brown territory, a love song comparing his beau, not totally originally, to a star. With its plodding yet strangely hypnotic keys throughout, it is not obviously a stand out single. However this promising start continues in a similar, business-as-usual manner with ‘Crowning Of The Poor’. It all starts to get a lot more interesting with ‘Just Like You’, which should be the next single and, more importantly for Brown, could be a club hit, not something usually found on many 46 year-old’s eighth career album.

The bizarre choice of covering Zager and Evans’ ‘In The Year 2525′ pays off, the horns and thumping drums interlaced with lyrics that are either prescient or nonsense; perfect Brown material then. When this is followed by arguably the stand out track of the album, ‘Always Remember Me’, the feeling that an album has been created which, unlike some Brown offerings, won’t be listened to once and then ignored, is strong. This song is clearly reaching for epic and nearly succeeds, the drums and maracas playing in your head for a while after listening.

Unfortunately the album suffers from an issue familiar to many 46 year-old men; it sags in the middle. ‘For The Glory’ and ‘Marathon Man’ are both routine offerings, neither inspiring nor inspired. Things pick up considerably with the penultimate ‘By All Means Necessary’, which sounds refreshingly different, with some excellent changes of tempo and a good lyric. The record ends with ’So High’, a title which makes you think Brown just couldn’t help throwing in one reefer-related song into the mix. This is one of the few tracks not co-written with McCracken, it being a purely Brown effort. Sadly you can tell. The most damning judgement I can deliver is that it genuinely sounds like it was written by Liam Gallagher. And nobody wants that.

Following the recent rumours of a Stone Roses reunion, a lot was riding on Brown’s new album. Would he be treading new ground or peddling the same old weed-induced offerings? Low sales, lack of interest and poor reviews could have made a lucrative Stone Roses tour seem even more tempting. However, despite some poor moments, this album is different to the norm, it has tunes and is musically challenging. The end result? You may have to keep your Roses t-shirt in the drawer for a little while longer.