Another new signing to Saint Marie Records, Blackstone Rngrs impress with this second E.P (first for the label). Hooky dream-pop with plenty of gutsy nu-gaze guitar work, this is at its best when vocalist Ruth Ellen Smith layers her voice with cavernous reverb and lets it soar as another instrument rather than a tool for communicating lyrical content. The title track displays this admirably, conjuring ghosts of This Mortal Coil, but the more hooky dream-pop numbers have plenty to recommend them too, particularly the wistful "Endless Sky" and the disntinctly New Orderish "Judas Tree".
It's an extremely promising E.P that really only needed four more tracks of similar quality and it could have been fleshed out into a confident and satisfying full length debut. Great stuff, I just wish there was more of it - but that's a good sign isn't it?
You can stream three tracks or purchase here:
Endless Sky is a relly big one! Great stuff!!!
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