EPxceptional! 27/11/2009

HAUNTED STEREO – Cross The Sea

We like Haunted Stereo here in the office, their dreamy alt.folk is always rather mesmerising and every listen seems to reveal a different angle to their tunes. This EP is built around the title track, previously released as a single for Amesty International, but now wrapped up with a few more rather lovely tracks, all of which bear repeated listening. There’s a hint of the shady, smoky world of Moriarty about these Southampton natives, but their tunes stay much more grounded and are all the more interesting for it. If you fancy something that will make you think, but sounds beautiful too, then we’d urge you to check these guys out!

BLUE EYED SHARK EXPERIMENT – Aun Aprendo (I’m Still Learning)

Oh my, the first track here is a bit of a shocker!’Generation’ seems like the sort of track knocked up in a ferw minutes to tack onto the end of a bunch of recordings so as to make the running time long enough for an album. Fine in it’s own way, but what is it doing here? Thankfully, things get better from there on in with some lovely little tunes that bring to mind both Bon Ivor and Badly Drawn Boy at his most introspective. Closer ‘Rain’ is just the sort of tune that you’d hope to find from a quirky new band… so god knows why it’s hidden at the end of this disc?

NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION – Callsigns

NAO (we’re not going to type that name again) are a band who clearly bring a wealth of influences to the table when writing new tunes, sometimes to the degree that you’re not entirely sure where they’ll be going with them. Such is the case on occasions here, with tunes wandering from one idea to the next seemingly without purpose. Thankfully, when they’re a little more focused, such as on the latter half of ‘Celing Poem’ when the tune descends into a bass heavy attack on the ears with guitars stabbing away on the fringes. That still doesn’t excuse a morose cover of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ though gents…