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Australia's Tiwi islands lie to the north of Darwin, Australia, where the Arafura and Timor Seas meet. The two main islands, Bathurst and Melville, have a combined population of just a few thousand, and while the indigenous inhabitants of the islands are related to mainland Aboriginal people, they are also culturally and linguistically distinct.

The band B2M (which stands for ‘Bathurst to Melville’) have been around since 2004, but this is their debut album. The sextet won the ‘Emerging Artist’ prize at the 2008 NT Indigenous Music Awards, and have recently been involved with a number of community-based social programmes highlighting mental health and cyber safety issues. Which is all very laudable on the local level, but doesn’t change the fact that their music is far too derivative of mainstream Top 40 pop and hip-hop. While Tiwi lyrics are occasionally used, lame English sentiments dominate, as on ‘Muli Muli La’. Backed with average vocals, tinny keyboards and predictable programming, it's rather disappointing. The two saving graces are the title-track, a funky hip-hop number sung mainly in the Tiwi language, and ‘Don’t Hear Them’ a moving song about departed grandparents and the importance of cultural stories. Disposable pop has its place, but if B2M want to grab international attention, they’ll need to stop imitating bland, imported styles, and create something that better represents their own unique culture.