The Background Info
This EP comes early to PPP as an exclusive from North London indie newbies Gilly Lovel. The band consists of Angus on lead vocals and guitar, Matilda on synths, bass and vocals Alex on guitar and James on drums. The 4 met at the Institute of Contemporary Music, London and pretty quickly ended up writing some decent material and things have spiralled since then. I’ve been waiting about a year to hear what this lot have been preparing to put out and I’ve been waiting for Angus to get himself a recording band to listen to for about 8/9 years now since we first met!
1) Intro
This is the epic opening of the record as the name well suggests, with a choral and instrumental that develops from placid to moving into an electronically influenced sound and back again to just long enough to grab your attention before pulling away again and leaving you wanting that little bit more. It marks a classic indie opening, establishing well the record and tone of what is to come; a chilled-out good time.
2) 57
The opening riff to this track is not only jolly but incredibly catchy and it quickly moves into a punchy, fast moving alternative/Brit-Pop hybrid sound that contrasts Angus’ vocals immaculately. With Matilda’s harmonies coming over the top of the lead vocals, it provides a neat and polished vocal sound almost reminiscent of The xx in their prime yet individual in their own way, which brings a really lovely depth to the track emotionally.
3) Moxie
This track is the most solid track on here and my personal favourite, with an instant fix from the heavily-played kit, which leads into fuzzy rhythm and clean lead underpinning a delicate vocal through the verses as Angus begs to “come save me” in every chorus. Towards the end comes a repeated chorus with huge harmonies in a joyous delirium of crash cymbal ringing which ends the track immaculately as the fuzz fades to a finish.
4) Something More
You may sense a theme here when I say there’s yet another fantastic riff here at the opening of this one, backed up well with synths and eventually vocals which are mastered perfectly with reverb to give a sincerely immersive feeling especially when guitars cut out and Angus is left with the synth and drums to show the clarity and purity of the words here. Lyrically, I think this is the best written track on the record and there is real feeling behind the words “throw away the life you have” and after this I’m thinking twice about what I really do want in life.
5) Lights
Opening with a drumbeat of perfect time and overlapped with harmonising synths and guitars that back up the vocals perfectly. The guitar solo at 2:12 (backed up with what I can only describe as sounding like a faint war-movie-style bomb dropping) gives me shivers down my spine every time I hear it and the song wraps up This track more than any other of the five shows these guys have musical knowledge far, far beyond their late-teen years and it really rounds off the record in the continued style and flair while not going overkill in any way as so many bands do.
To Summarise
This is a killer 5 songs that are not only relaxed and technically fantastic, but are very much thought-provoking lyrically and musically. They’re perfect for just chilling out after a long day or to keep you going through that next slog through module’s revision, and I would be stunned if these 4 don’t make it a few rungs up the ladder in the very near future.
57 Release & Gigs
The EP is available to preorder now on Bandcamp and Amazon Music, and will hit iTunes, Google Play and Spotify too, with the release date set on April 6th.
Check them out live at The Water Rats in Kings Cross on April 6th to see this EP in full plus even more stuff they’re working on! Follow this link for more info, like them on Facebook and follow on Twitter…
I’d love to thank Angus for hitting me up and giving me the chance to do this before anyone else gets the chance to hear it and the rest of the band for bearing with me being a crazy fanboy for the last year, hopefully this review makes up for that a bit!
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