A girl group without the cheese

• The Way it Is, Madasun

• V2, BMG, 2000

There are two things the music industry has had too much of: boybands and girl groups (lately, labels have even taken to coming up with co-ed acts). Don’t even get me started on the plethora of Britney clones, who perhaps not just hope for a hit album but their own doll, as well.

All said, I don’t care much for either gender of groups, but Madasun, surprisingly, is worth listening to.

The London-based gal trio started as an "all-singing, five-girl band" that toured around England. No doubt about it, these lookers paid their musical dues, fronting for acts such as B*Witched and Steps or even performing alone in dingy clubs.

After losing two members, Vonda Rowena, Abby Norman and Vicky Barratt found new management and consolidated their sound into a mixture of R&B, guitar and pop (think TLC meets Robby Williams, they say). It was then just a matter of time before a label found and signed them up. V2 soon took Madasun under its wing after being more than sufficiently impressed by the combination of looks and talent.

Madasun dishes out radio-friendly tracks, but don’t expect any of the same crap (yes, crap) you have come to expect out of the genre. It is a substantial treat that will surprise your jaded ear. Writes UK’s The Tip Sheet about the carrier single Don’t You Worry: "Unlike the other merry little girlie pop singles... almost alternative." Yes, the A-word.

In an exclusive STAR interview with this writer some time back, Vicky described how she had worked with Filipino vocalists at an earlier stage of her career. At one time, she had been a session singer touring the world, and she had the opportunity to work with Pinoys in an Asian swing (not the Philippines, unfortunately). She recalled "I got positive vibes from the people – genuinely lovely. There is amazing talent in the Philippines."

Vicky underscored that Madasun doesn’t want to be cast into the same light as The Spice Girls. "They’re manufactured. It could have been any other girl in that group and the music would have turned out the same. I believe that there should be personality in the music."

And personality there is, indeed. From the sparse, groovy Don’t You Worry, with an almost tangible bitchiness bubbling beneath the vocals (Little boy on my telephone/You’ve been away now you wanna come home/It’s kinda strange since you were the one who left me on my own), Vicky and company suddenly change gear and dish out the inspirational and catchy (and TLC-esque) Walking On Water. Slowing down the pace is The Way it Is, a ballad that still maintains a hip-hop flavor and an unmistakable edge. Yes, we’d like our diamonds not too polished, thank you. Then you might think it’s Semisonic’s Closing Time in the first few seconds, but it’s the syrupy Don’t Hate Me.

Acoustic guitar serves as a beautiful hook on many of the tracks in this compilation, backed up by keyboards or even string renditions.

The album is a worthwhile journey and look into how pop could be interesting again — never overdoing and killing the experience with overproduction. It’s also rare for a debut album to have a this much direction considering Vonda is into Janet Jackson and R&B; Abby cranks up on Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Charlatans; while Vicky delights in divas like Patti La Belle. Curious already?

But the girls’ diverse taste possibly explains why this album comes out as anti-thesis to the everything else we’ve heard so far — if we talk about (ugh) girl groups and boy bands. I believe this was where I came in...