After their last EP won awards with well respected folk and roots publication Fatea, anticipation is high for this follow up from Flaming June. Drawing on a love of traditional folk, it’s a 5 song collection that respects its predecessors without being afraid to try something new.
Because laid over the usual folk trappings are a collection of melodies that wouldn’t necessarily be typical of the genre. There’s something grating but effective about the two note refrain of ‘Psycho’; meanwhile, ‘Sweetest Weakness’ crosses into acoustic rock territory with sparse instrumentation in the opening section giving way to a sweetly faultering vocal. Each of the tracks has something different to offer.
It’s this variation that keeps this from being an identikit roots EP, and should keep folk fans happy without adhering to the strictures of the genre. Neither does it subscribe to the modern, pounding folk-pop found in the charts recently. All in all, it’s simultaneously old and new, and well worth checking out.
