Designed to accompany the forthcoming, and excellently titled, Zibaldone album, this EP offers an early clue as to how that album is likely to sound. Still melodically stunning, the band are a little edgier on this collection of tunes. And I’ve got to say, the viola on these songs adds a dimension to the sound that makes them unique.

The opener, Some Kind Of Handbook has been in the live set for a while, in fact I filmed a performance of it at the Cavern Club a couple of years ago. It’s instantly catchy and sticks around in your brain for quite some time and contains my favourite song lyric of the year “You can’t listen to your own heart either, ’cause you know the thing is dumber than dirt”. A perfect starter for ten. Check out the video for it below.

Chasing on the tail of this cracking opener is Anemone where the band’s influences are on show with sea life based lyrics to rival those of Robyn Hitchcock, before launching into a cover of a song by The New Pornographers. I’m not familiar with this band, but on the strength of this cover I will be investigating them further (but I will google them with caution obviously!) I have found myself randomly humming the fourth track, The Twelve-Inch, cementing the fact that these guys nail catchy pop tunes with such aplomb.

The digital version of this EP ends with a remake of the track Responsible from the Incidental Lightshow album, which absolutely rocks and round things off nicely.

But wait! If you buy the CD version there’s more! Those opting to have a product they can hold in their hands get two extra tracks. The first is a tiny glimpse of something from the Zibaldone album and this is followed by the recent b-side Not A Good Man which is a kick-ass rocker of of tune that I am pretty sure I will be playing a lot!

Side Three is available on digital download and CD from the 17th May via Big Stir Records – click here for the website.
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