IF imitation is the highest form of flattery, then it's safe to assume Canada's Hot Hot Heat are a little more than lukewarm in their love of Elvis Costello.

Yelping vocals yanked straight from the pit of frontman Steve Bays' ribcage, twinned with skeletal bass lines and stop-start guitars, make this a dead ringer for Mr McManus' magnificent This Year's Model.

Elevator's opener, Running Out Of Time, pushes all the right new wave buttons and is an almost mirror image of Costello's statement of intent, No Action.

Similarities continue in true post-punk fashion - each track rattles past at just over two minutes - and on Pickin' It Up we even get a keyboard swirl that wouldn't sound out of place on Pump It Up.

Previous album, Make Up The Breakdown, containing the classic Bandages, was cut from a similarly tight-fitting black suit and came with the same regulation sneer.

But while fellow post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand mine a wider range of influences, it's Hot Hot Heat's one-dimensional approach that stops them penning a scorcher.

Elevator does have its highlights. Single Goodnight Goodnight is a great bitter break-up lament. "You're embarrassing me, you're embarrassing you," blasts Bays as he casts his girl aside.

The four-piece can certainly write an energetic, infectious song - see the singalong Ladies And Gentlemen and the charming Jingle Jangle. And the brevity of each track certainly means this album doesn't linger long enough to kick up a stink. But it's the weight of history that stops this Elevator reaching the top floor.

Maybe someone should call the repairmen, before Hot Hot Heat hit the studio again and leave listeners feeling cold, cold, cold.

Updated: 11:07 Thursday, May 12, 2005