Thanks to a few of my friends (who I love very much), I stumbled upon this incredible little English-American man-woman folk duo that recently recorded an EP with Oxford-based indie label Jam Jar records (http://jamjarrecords.co.uk/). I'm not a pretentious pitchfork media reviwer, so I'll try and keep this summary to an enjoyable minimum.
The record opens with 'Sixth Borough', a beautiful harmony-woven piece that conjures up the best of what you would imagine New York to be: leafy parks and rich tower buildings fixed into their aged grids, enlivened with the occasional peace that the city gets on one of its days off. Plinky acoustics lead us through the city and on to another famous city in 'Baker Street Station'.
The couple provide a small change in direction as they sing 'Earlgreylavender', a more intimate song, revealing relationships behind these enigmatic voices.
'Name' is probably the weakest on the 8-track EP, but it leads into 'The World is Not Flat', a sumptuous, if slightly cliched slice of Americana, that probably wouldn't feel out of place under SubPop.
Definitely the most moving, and most musically and lyrically inspired, song is 'Paradox', that gives us the wonderful
I've been saying that I love you for so long
and I'm wondering if it's dark that comes with the dawn.
This morning rooster keeps on crowing on and on and on
and I've been saying that I love you for so long.
We're then taken through the (unfortunately brief) 'Forest', to reach the swansong of the EP, 'Birdhouses', providing fruity, natural backing noise to complement another bout of haunting, airy female vocals.
A definite 4.5/5. I've not heard a better EP this year, but hey - nothing's perfect.
You can have a listen to some of it here: http://www.last.fm/music/The+World+Is+Not+Flat
love tom
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