Bristol, UK-based five-piece Claudine brings together members of several local projects for its debut EP, Live In The Garage, a three-song introduction to the group’s soft-psych folk-pop sound. The release follows a year of live activity around the city, with “Playlist” earning BBC Introducing in the West’s Weekly Earworm selection in September. With a debut album already in production and due next summer, the EP offers an absorbing early look at the group’s developing sound.
“Modern Cowboy” opens the EP in stylish, debonair form. “Slept like a baby, in other words I cried all night,” Sophie Jones’ compelling vocals let out, emitting an enjoyable vulnerability amidst twangy guitars. “I’m a woman looking for change, tired of living in a one horse town.” Dreamy organs and Ryan McMurtry’s calming backing vocals add wonderfully during the ensuing chorus, punctuated by a declarative “gonna walk through the door, like a modern cowboy.” The track is a hazy, melodic standout.
The ensuing “Playlist” also envelops, kickstarted by those organs and bolstered by jangling guitar tones, while stirring lyricism ruminates on a society obsessed with profit margins and the daily routine, beckoning to escape existential dread and embracing a playlist “made especially for me” instead. Calming brass tones add an enthralling hypnotic element thereafter. Also impressing is “Slow Burn,” closing off the EP with a lovely interaction between vocal layers, peppy rhythms, and swells of spacey synths. Full of excellent songwriting, Live In The Garage is a fantastic EP from Claudine.
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
