Summer Camp is made up of Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley, a married couple from the UK. Together, they create generic indie pop. For us that means nothing unique or memorable about the listening experience. Other married pop duos have fared better, although it’s all the same thing. Matt & Kim and Mates of State, two other acts who have released music this year, have proven this model can lead to success. But, like those bands, Summer Camp’s records are a case of diminishing returns.

On Bad Love, Sankey’s vocals are front, center and distracting. When she reaches for the high notes, she misses catastrophically and dilutes whatever general points she’s making about love and loss. Listening to Welcome to Condale or their self-titled album, Sankey’s vocals don’t do nearly as much damage. No one would accuse her of being the best singer in the world, but previously they made her limited vocal range work. Here, she sounds lost, like a girl out of her league on a reality television competition. On “Run Away”, the biggest offender, she sounds downright shrill. Warmsley fares a little better, like a poor man’s A.C. Newman, but it’s too little to make any real difference. Musically, Bad Love is just as messy, though it falls neatly into indie pop’s tight constraints. At its core the album layers keyboards on top of keyboards then adds distortion. Simple.

It would have done Summer Camp a lot of good to get an outside perspective here. Instead, this sounds like a glossy throwaway pet project. It’s an album riddled with avoidable mistakes. On a third album, a line like “everything will just be just fine” is unforgivable. Bad Love does end on its strongest note. “Keep Up” feels out of place, but, hey, it’s not half bad so chalk it up as a win.

Twee pop is popular and bands like Summer Camp become more abundant every year. Unfortunately for them, many do it better. Bad Love is boring at best but really it’s a fail.