While Boyzone's reunion and Jedward's extended 15 minutes of fame continue to prove that Ireland remains the hotbed of boy band talent, the Emerald Isle hasn't produced a successful girl group since B*Witched in the late '90s. Hoping to rectify this situation is Westlife vocalist Kian Egan and X-Factor judge Louis Walsh's side project, Wonderland, the latest five-piece to attempt to capitalize on Girls Aloud's self-imposed hiatus and Sugababes' continuous implosion. Unlike the shiny dance-pop of their fellow heir-to-the-girl-band-throne hopefuls the Saturdays and Parade, the Dublin-based outfit have opted for a more sophisticated approach on their self-titled debut, with a sound inspired by the classic AOR of Fleetwood Mac, the melodic soft rock of the Corrs, and the teen-friendly country-pop of Taylor Swift. While the likes of Nashville-tinged lead single Not a Love Song, the sweeping acoustic ballad Nothing Moves Me Anymore, and the melancholic harmonies of Is It Just Me are the kind of easy listening ditties destined to become Radio 2 staples, it's hard to see how their pleasantly inoffensive nature will succeed where Walsh's extremely similar previous foray into girl power, Bellefire, miserably failed. It's only when they up the tempo such as on the driving anthemic Starlight, the ABBA-influenced In Your Arms (the former surprisingly penned by two members of chav-rap crew Blazin' Squad, the latter by Take That's Mark Owen), and the Motown-inspired Get Your Boots On, do the girls come into their own. Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably considering their two mentors' history, Wonderland's 15 tracks are bogged down by a number of superfluous cover versions, from Ryan Adams When the Stars Go Blue and Lady Antebellum's Need You Now to Alexis Strum's It Could Be You, of which only the latter's Celtic reworking adds anything to the original, while the bonus acoustic renditions of 2010's chart hits from Adele (Rolling in the Deep) and Rihanna (Only Girl in the World) suggest an unnecessary crisis of confidence in their own material. Perhaps a little too mature for the audience they're chasing, and not mature enough for the audience they are more likely to appeal to, Wonderland runs the risk of being caught in no man's land. But while it's unlikely to achieve the success of its homeland's male pop acts, it's an accomplished and well-produced debut a million miles away from their denim-clad, teenybopper forebears. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi

1		Not a Love Song
2		Starlight
3		Nothing Moves Me Anymore
4		Need You Now
5		In Your Arms
6		Is It Just Me
7		Why Here Why Now
8		Time Has Run Out
9		Emergency
10		It Could Be You
11		Get Your Boots On
12		When the Stars Go Blue
13		What Do You Want Me to Do
14		Rolling In the Deep
15		Only Girl (In the World)