Pretty far-removed from his former band Won Mississippi, this debut solo effort from Rob Wilkinson shows that emos (small ‘e’) don’t necessarily die, they just grow up and develop musically.
The title track of the EP is folky, yes, but closer to that north of England folk tradition (rather than sporting any Celtic feel that Wilkinson might have absorbed via his Scots connections). And its strong melody would do Richard Thompson proud.
An afterhours bar-room sway-along, ‘Paper Planecrash’ is driven by a drum machine, very purposefully (rather than via any lack of funding for a proper drummer, I suspect) and sees a tune and some yelps drenched in guitar noise like a Butthole Surfers bedsit jam.
That’s as close as the EP gets to that area or inded Wilkinson’s past ‘job’ – although ‘Hands Span Mexico’ sees a kind of combining slowcore, country and lo-fi, and showing off another side to his already impressive credentials.
The EP is a free download, from secretganghandshakes.bandcamp.com