This is a review of "Defined and Refined" recorded by Libero. The review was written by Danny Martin in 2005.

They hail from Wakefield. A lady I thank you and 3 Gentlemen folk. Spangly bittersweet guitar melodies been the sound that the masses may or may not sway along to. Not dance, no never Dance. Sway.

It seems in Wakey they have a bit of a following. Touting their wares at local fetes and pub car park style shenanigans. Oh listen, they ain’t bad don’t let that word ever be said. And vox-box Master Matthew Yates can hold a tune, for sure. Nevertheless they seem to emanate a sense of boredom and stale mediocrity as a whole. Half arsed is what white lightning chav would call it. Lethargic springs to mind from me.

Sssshhhhh I’ll just tip toe away now before you ask me to name the tracks. What? Shut up! It sure as a frog in the sun isn’t my fault that they are pretty much instantly forgettable. Oh sod you then, If I must I will escape back to room where I lay my head and get the darn CD again. Really though.

“Afire” sums Libero up within the first bars. Soft, morbid vocals ambling through a tidy, neat jigsaw of delightful guitar melodies (Both delicate acoustic and spitty electric don’t you know). Ably accompanied by a dainty bassline and rat-a-tat-tat skins. It jogs along beautifully, as do B-sides “Heartbreaker” and “Amber”. The vocal structure is solid and in places fetchingly attractive. But it’s just nothing, Zilch. No spark, no fire in yer belly.

Please don’t interpret this review as a bad, crappy band, no talent sort of scribble. Honest to god they can play well and sing well and lyrically the songs hold a torch to a lot of other garbage on the scene. But wake up people, the bloody Arctic Monkeys have just hit no.1, The Magic Numbers’ album just gets better with every listen (which is tonnes) and a few short days ago I was sat watching Jon Gomm mesmerize at a little known hovel in Bradford. Those are my alternatives to Libero. If I was sat in a smokey Wakey pub on a Sunday afternoon and was half-cut my alternatives would be narrower and I would pass these guys off as been bloody good. But I’m not, Sorry.