COFFEE IN NEUKÖLLN

Though it does have some beautiful moments - like the moving Kyrie - I find that the vocals on Barock Project's Coffee In Neukölln to be a consistent stumbling point. Luca Pancaldi's performance is competent but not exceptional at the best of times, at other points ending up rather jarring; it doesn't help that the lyrics tend to be rather pedestrian and that the music often steps back and goes rather simplistic when the vocals come in. It's all rather nicely polished, but the end product feels calculated and somehow fakey to me, a product manufactured for someone who isn't me. Competent, but doesn't snare the soul.