There’s something distinctly nocturnal about Held the Pulse. Throughout its runtime, Glasgow singer-songwriter Stewart Traquair seems drawn to the point where a city starts to empty out, conversations become looser, memories sharpen and optimism has to fight a little harder to survive. Across five tracks, Traquair moves between psychedelic colour, soul-inflectedContinue Reading
Shaven Primates take a more direct route on Kill The Algorithm. The Oxford four-piece have previously moved between dark wave, art-rock, post-punk and progressive influences, but this EP places greater emphasis on hard rock and punk, using that heavier framework to explore anxiety, persuasion and the different ways control can takeContinue Reading
At first, the tracks ‘Trojan Horses’ and ‘I’ll Follow You’ appear to belong to different releases. One moves with immediate melodic energy, its rhythms pushing forward and its sharper structure offering the closest thing ‘Fading’ has to an obvious entry point. The other takes its time, spreading guitars across a much broaderContinue Reading
On his latest offering ‘Sombra Del Sol’, Spanish Castles brings together a broad range of historical and regional influences without forcing them into a conventional rock or singer-songwriter format. The EP is built primarily around guitar, atmosphere and instrumental storytelling, resulting in a release that feels considered, detailed and strongly connectedContinue Reading
Red Bird approach their new EP ‘The Follies’ with a degree of understatement. Across five tracks, the Oxnard band favour direct arrangements, loosely textured guitars and reflective songwriting over dramatic production or overt displays of ambition. The result is a compact indie-rock release concerned with uncertainty, ageing and the attempt to findContinue Reading
On his new EP ‘Тигролови (Tiger Hunters)’, Berlin-based Ukrainian artist Daniel Merkulov, recording as Aircraft, gathers fragments and memories of his homeland into a six-track meditation that moves between human cruelty, historical trauma, friendship, nostalgia and myth. Taking its name from the novel by Ukrainian dissident writer Ivan Bahrianyi, the EP arrives with anContinue Reading
On his new EP ‘Age of Illusions’, Common Saints turns his attention towards a familiar contemporary unease: the growing difficulty of knowing what is authentic in a culture increasingly shaped by technology, automation and mediated experience. The five-track collection approaches that subject through atmosphere, allowing its ideas to emerge gradually across a setContinue Reading
There is a quiet confidence running through DownTown Mystic’s ‘Mystic Highway Road Trip’ EP. Instead of simply looking to reinvent a familiar formula, songwriter and producer Robert Allen focuses on the qualities that have long sustained American roots rock: strong melodies, experienced musicianship and songs that reveal their character through repetition rather than spectacle. BuiltContinue Reading
There is something wonderfully fitting about an EP born somewhere between interstate highways, motel rooms and mountain campsites. You can hear the movement woven into every second of ‘Turned Around’, Theo Black’s adventurous second solo release, where changing landscapes become the backdrop for a collection that feels constantly in motion. Here,Continue Reading
After years spent developing an interconnected series of releases, Raleigh duo Kinsley have delivered an EP that validates the entire creative vision that came before it. Yet perhaps the greatest achievement here is that ‘Humans’ never feels burdened by its own ambition. Even detached from its predecessors, it stands confidently on itsContinue Reading