Singles

Gossamer Albatross - EP

Angus Reid 20/11/2007

Rating: 5/5

Expressing a love of all patterns floral, Gossamer Albatross should feel right at home among GIITTV's hallowed pages, and they are indeed a floral kind of band, evoking all things pastoral and whimsical. With a sound nestled gently between the twin pillars of Jeremy Warmsley and Neutral Milk Hotel, Gossamer Albatross seem to be the very essence of the fast-rising anti-folk scene in the UK at the moment. Such clumsy labelling, however, does the band no favours whatsoever. The delicate pizzicato violins on Raging Bulls bring to mind, somewhat bizarrely, the score to a fifties Hollywood film about medieval England. Maybe that's just me, but there's a certain cinematic quality that is quite unexpected, but nevertheless most welcome. You can imagine the infectious joy of these songs becoming a massive word-of-mouth success.

With music like this, there's always the potential for it to tip over into tweeness, and on occasion this seems dangerously close, though the delicious instrumentation and arrangement pulls you back from the brink - listen to the cello on the chorus of “Whispered Thoughts” to see what I mean. The devil really in the details on this EP, and repeat listening brings forth more and more treasures for the attentive listener. All four songs are literally jam packed with those moments that you get in songs where something just clicks and feels absolutely right and perfect in that moment.

All of this is no small achievement considering that the average age of the band is a mere 17. What this EP promises for the future could be a talent that blossoms into one of those special things that people take to their hearts and treasure for years to come. Hopefully time will not ravage these young minstrels in the way that so many before have vanished - on this evidence alone I'm rather looking forward to the future now.