BROKEN RECORDS - EP REVIEW

Broken Records - Toska EP (JSharp) 
Broken Records - Toska EP

Release Date: 24th March 2014

Time for the Scots to make a return to my ears in the shape of Edinburgh collective Broken Records and their new EP Toska - coincidentally of an old friends blind cat who was constantly walking in to walls with a mix of hilarity and sadness. Anyhoo...this four track collection kicks off with title track 'Toska', a brooding, slow burning piece of darkly seductive music with rolling drums, soulful vocals and a very real sense of anguish. 'See You On The Way Down' has a mournful tone to it, like a lament as sung by a lonely sea faring man when he is at the furthest point from shore. Broken Records have a great sense of morose grandeur in a way that Marmaduke Dando, Nick Drake or Editors have with luxuriant baritone vocals wrapping around you to form a warm, knitted scarf (or is it a noose?).

The sleepy, overheard speech that heralds the beginning of 'Ward' harks back to a memory you never had before the simple piano melody seeps in to being and the warm, rich strings creep up the walls to envelope you entirely. 'Revival' is the closing track and there is a more rocking, heavy and, strangely, optimistic tone to this parting shot. Pitched somewhere between Bruce Springsteen, Frank Turner and Joshua Tree era U2, 'Revival' would make a great set closer to leave crowds with a sense of sadness and hope separated only by a blurred charcoal line. This is music for fans of bands with big sounds, big minds and huge, aching hearts like the National or Arcade Fire and I can see these guys on a stage at an uber cool American festival in the not too distant future. In the meantime, see if you can catch them on their mini tour in April.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/brokenrecords?fref=ts

Live Dates:

14th April - King Tut's, Glasgow
15th April - The Sebright Arms, London

16th April - The Wardrobe, Leeds

Comments