by Sharon MawerThe debut album by London five-piece band Ben's Brother, Beta Male Fairytales saw Jamie Hartman stepping out from the shadow of his big brother Ben, who inspired the group name, with a self-written, soulful, and emotion-filled album featuring 12 tracks, all written by Hartman. Ben's Brother were a proper gigging band (not one discovered on a TV talent show), but the vocal qualities are not dissimilar to Ben Mills, who did nearly win The X Factor. The problem that Ben's Brother faced was that the mid-2000s were awash with singers who had that Rod Stewart\u002FJoe Cocker gravelly vocal quality, from established stars like the Stereophonics to newcomers like Paolo Nutini, and Beta Male Fairytales had nothing to distinguish it from the background coffee-table albums prevalent at the time. It opens with Rise and Beauty Queen, both tracks released as singles and both straightforward piano and guitar-led midtempo ballads. The tracks Home, Bad Dream, and God by Another Name had some of the musical arrangement qualities of Keane, but the penultimate track was an interesting 98-second instrumental, Harmonica in F (Interlude), almost an Irish jig on the acoustic guitar and harmonica.