Eagleowl - For The Thoughts You Never Had EP

Edinburgh's eagleowl are notoriously slow workers, but it'd be missing the point somewhat to wait for a full-length debut album to emerge when this EP has everything but the duration. Their slow-burning, fragile folk refuses to betray youthful energy, instead moving with care to preserve the peace behind each song. Most impressively, eagleowl know exactly how to construct a collection of songs that flows from first second to last: the fourth track of five Blackout is entirely instrumental, but feels essential in its context. Holding For The Thoughts... all together as one is the violin, which takes on such vivid character through its journey as to wrestle the EP's emotional focus from both the male and female singers. From its terrible melancholy on the title track, to its cautious step forward in Blanket, to its cheerful resolution in final track Motherfucker, it’s the violin’s personality that makes this record sing. [Ally Brown]