MALIK & PETTITE - EP REVIEW

Malik & Pettite - Malik & Pettite EP (UP Records) 
Malik & Pettite - EP

There are areas of the world that don't have a particularly strong musical heritage and, underdog lover as I am, I'm always keen to hear new music coming from these areas. Like it or not, Coventry is one such area so receiving this EP from duo Malik and Pettite was a glimmer of hope on a musically bleak horizon. This quartet of songs opens up with the surprisingly jaunty 'No More Love' with its duelling acoustic guitars a tight vocal harmonies between our two heroes, Steve Malik and Loz Pettite. 'Rise Up' is a similarly up tempo tune with a bouncy, Beatles meets Arctics meets Jake Bugg melody strummed with gusto over the shuffling drum beat.

There's a very radio friendly aura to the duo's music, in line with the likes of Jake Bugg, James Morrison and Paolo Nutini which should see them make some headway with a Radio 2 audience but I'm not sure there's enough of an edge to make them world changers just yet. Nevertheless, 'Only You' is a wonderfully McCartney-esque pop tune that bounces along with a simple charm and an innocence that is hard to ignore. The final track on the EP is 'Victoria', a plaintive love song full of distance, remorse and heart ache but also some cheesy guitar melodies that were last heard in an American sitcom. Malik & Pettite are a lot more lively and positive than the majority of acoustic acts around at the moment but they might want to consider reigning that back in from time to time to avoid slipping in to the world of daytime TV montage music. A murky world indeed.

More information: http://malikandpettite.com/

Live Dates:

20th November - The Bedford, London

Comments