You know how some music makes you leap about the place in a joyous manner - well, this ain't it. No sirreee Bob - this is an EP of songs to which you sit down, take in and listen intently, soaking up every aspect of the atmosphere that the band creates, taking in every facet of its unique sounding qualities.
Throughout the three tracks on offer, there is a kind of solid brooding quality that builds up a head of steam and takes you ona trip around the darkside before dropping you back down to earth. Opening with "Breadandmilkson", the first things you hear are the high-register spiralling lead guitar figure, solid throbbing bass nd lurching drums, before Ryan Petrie enters with a vocal that has all the smouldering passion of Jim Morrison as it wraps its tones around a song that oozes blackness and yet burns with an impassioned emotion, eventually erupting but never letting go, as the whole thing piles on the pressure, allowing a lead guitar to break the spell as Calum Cummins soars above the slowly encroaching rhythm section, the song returning amid a hail of psychedelic swiring guitar, as the emotive vocls take you to the end.
"Synaesthesia" opens in similar manner, only ehre the guitar is initially more restrained before sailing upwards and adding strength to its depth, the lilting rhythm section an underlying foundation as the bass slowly circles overhead and the stirring, impassioned vocals deliver the song with feeling and a kind of bleak sensibility, yet one that hooks you into its world with ruthless efficiency. You can feel the song and band building as the slowly propulsive magic drives slowly forward, those raw vocals possessing emotional depth as the song really starts to fly, that pace becoming more urgent, the spell totally magical and the song providing adensity that eventually crashes into a supernova of electrifying guitar leads above cyclical bass before dropping down to provide the crashing-to-the-ground finale - utterly superb.
"The Heretic", a long-time stage favourite and traditional set-closer for the band, revolves around a high-flying lead sax as the band conjure a faster paced muscle, while Petrie delivers another dark and atmospheric yet, this time, more optimistic, vocal performance, on a song that takes psychedelic indie-rock into a whole new dimension, the sax right at the forefront as guitr and drums provide the backup an drive, while the vocal veer between emotion and intensity, eventually flying alongside the band to inspirational effect as the song powers to its final swagger.
With a clarity that is faultless, production an arrangement tht provides the edge and nature of what the band is all about and songs delivered to perfection, this band is yet nother example of the uniqueness that abounds on the Dundee Scene, and one that has, like Page 6 before it, finally turned a corner and coming on strong.