A great single can be a curse in disguise, because it has the ability to make an above-average album suffer by comparison. Such is the case with Tam!'s debut disc, Hello My Friends Do You Read Me?, which peaks early with "Aliens," an effectively eerie tune with an explosive chorus, then settles into a comfortable rhythm with a Soul Coughing-style stew of electronic beats and spoken word blending with Brit-pop harmonies. Tam! does best when focused on interstellar subject matter, as on the quirky keyboard-layered "Level 10 Boy" and the appropriately Space Oddity-like "Blam Blam," an appealing odd mix of acoustic guitars and electronic noise. Repeated listens diminish the distance between the peak of "Alien" and the rest of the tracks, bringing out the rave-like energy of "Swallow Me Whole," which brings to mind the Gallagher/Chemical Brothers collaboration "Setting Sun," and the clever melodic twists of "Sting." Another overseas outfit, Radiohead, became buzzworthy with a single that dwarfed the rest of its debut effort, but it went on to craft albums on which every song was at or above "Creep" caliber. It's yet to be seen whether this Scottish trio can follow suit, but in the meantime Tam! has delivered not only one of the year's catchiest tunes but also an album that, taken as a whole, ranks among 2000's most promising debuts.
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