If affability was a criterion for pop success instead of arrogance then it would be Mark Owen singing and winning instead of his mate "Rob". Instead, he finds himself unceremoniously dumped by his record label after his last album, the perfectly acceptable In Your Own Time, failed to find favour with mainstream radio DJs.
Still, if there's one thing Mark Owen has in abundance, it seems to be perseverence. He's set up his own record label, been to America to record with respected producer Tony Hoffer (The Thrills, Turin Brakes, Beck) and this single is the result.
And it ain't half bad. The guitars shimmer away in a summery kind of way, the melody does a fair job of getting inside your head, and Owen's now broadly Mancunian singing voice delivers half-amusing lines like, "I'll be the one who makes you coffee when you can't wake up... I'll be the one who turns your stomach...". In short, Makin' Out is of a broadly similar vibe to Four Minute Warning and its ilk on In Your Own Time. Given that this is the case it may bomb again, but if it's catchy, guitar-driven pop you're after, you could do a lot worse.
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