CHARLOTTE CARPENTER – How Are We Ever To Know? EP

ccep2016You’re not my real love…I don’t think I can love no more…”, cries a soft voice, providing the main hook for ‘Last Love’, a number dedicated to moving on, maturing and the realisation that things rarely last for ever. For those familiar with Charlotte Carpenter’s work – and particularly her ‘Fault Line’ EP from 2015 – these stark words will not surprise. The themes of growth, broken relationships and inner strength have so often seemed central to her work, but never more so than on her 2016 release ‘How Are We Ever To Know?’, its questioning title so fitting for the short collection of poignant outpourings.

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HILARY WOODS – Heartbox EP

hilary woods epPreviously the bassist with Irish indie rock million sellers JJ72, Hilary Woods embarked upon a solo career following the band’s demise. Her debut EP ‘Night’ – released in 2014 – took a step away from the jangling sounds of her former band and instead took a fascination with dream pop drones and acoustic guitar, creating a kind of dark folk vibe. Two years on, ‘Heartbox’ continues her musical journey, but takes it down a deeper and more foreboding route, often dispensing with the folkier elements, leaving just moody dream pop and electronica for the basis of three surprisingly minimalist soundscapes.

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HECTOR AND THE LEAVES – Little Bee EP

little bee epLondon based singer-songwriter Tom Hector has an old spirit. On this, his third EP, his music has a dreamy quality, resurrecting sixties pop and sunny attitudes, replayed through a sort of nineties filter. It results in four tunes that might appeal to fans of the Beach Boys or The Feeling, yet at the same time he presents material that holds on to a slightly woozy attitude that might just catch the ear of those who’ve followed the solo career of The Bluetones’ Mark Morriss.

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