Paint The Dark:
Deeds I Can't Undo:
Paint The Dark Music:
Out 4th November 2013:
7/10
It's a brave person who compares any band, artist or performer to may all-time favourite band XTC but, in their promo notes, Paint The Dark have done just that. After checking that my night-sights were clean and functioning correctly, you'll be delighted to learn that there'll be no sport today - Paint The Dark might not sound like Swindon's finest per se but there's a passing reference at the band's more restrained output (normally composed by Colin Moulding, rather than your man Partridge).
Anyway, enough of the comparisons for now - lead-track Lariat is a super pop-song that carries some '80s influence under its arm and a chunk of stadium-rock, a la Editors (or, on a lesser scale, Theme Park), betwixt its jowls. Like (even what sounds like the cheeky bit of sampling of Creatures Of Love's Vakkula in the middle). The second track Winter is very pretty, a short tinkling instrumental not unlike Agnes Obel, Goldfrapp or Kate Bush at their most ethereal, before the rest of the EP delivers four functional songs that sound more like singer Ben Burrow's previous band (I Am Arrows) rather than brother Andy's Razorlight. This is a good thing.
Of the four, Heart Shaped Lung should be singled out for further exploration and a stab at radio-play forthwith, while Hurricanes Must Come returns us all to the pastoral atmospherics of the previous Winter. You know what? Paint The Dark have something here - grown-up music with a child-like nature and an eye on larger festival audiences, without the cynicism required to sell-out. Good start.
Deeds I Can't Undo:
Paint The Dark Music:
Out 4th November 2013:
7/10
Anyway, enough of the comparisons for now - lead-track Lariat is a super pop-song that carries some '80s influence under its arm and a chunk of stadium-rock, a la Editors (or, on a lesser scale, Theme Park), betwixt its jowls. Like (even what sounds like the cheeky bit of sampling of Creatures Of Love's Vakkula in the middle). The second track Winter is very pretty, a short tinkling instrumental not unlike Agnes Obel, Goldfrapp or Kate Bush at their most ethereal, before the rest of the EP delivers four functional songs that sound more like singer Ben Burrow's previous band (I Am Arrows) rather than brother Andy's Razorlight. This is a good thing.
Of the four, Heart Shaped Lung should be singled out for further exploration and a stab at radio-play forthwith, while Hurricanes Must Come returns us all to the pastoral atmospherics of the previous Winter. You know what? Paint The Dark have something here - grown-up music with a child-like nature and an eye on larger festival audiences, without the cynicism required to sell-out. Good start.