EL BORN - EP REVIEW

El Born - Kangaroo EP (Strata Entertainment Ltd) 

El Born - Kangaroo EP

Si Connelly, the 'talent' behind El Born, is one of those guys that is not so much driven to be a musician as he is just resigned to the fact. There are those people who will gig wherever they get the opportunity, take studio time at 4.00 in the morning and who will sleep in their car rather than pay rent just to be able to buy that all important new guitar (semi-true story). Anyhoo, the music: this EP starts off with the single edit of 'Kangaroo' which is an uplifting, foot stomping piece of indie-rock with some slightly less positive lyrics. 'Catch The Sun' is a much more subdued indie ballad that will surely appear in a Richard Curtis film at some point as the guitars are a little on the cheesy side from time to time. '1982' is the song that's propelled El Born in to the public eye with Coldplay picking up on the video and championing the song which in itself is an inoffensive, heartfelt piece of music but without the video it all sounds a bit  James Morrison to me. The EP finishes up with the album version of 'Kangaroo' which is a slightly elongated, expansive version of the title track. I can see that El Born have got talent but I would hope that they have a little more bite and punch about them by the time the next release comes around as this release is all a little AOR/MOR for me.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/elbornband

Live Dates:

20th February - Bannerman's Rock & Whiskey Bar, Edinburgh

21st February - Mad Hatters/Hootananny's, Inverness

22nd February - The Admiral Club, Glasgow (7.00pm)

22nd February - Live At The Box, Glasgow (10.00pm)

23rd February - Green Room, Perth

28th February - Kasbah, Coventry

1st March - Night & Day Cafe, Manchester

2nd March - Firebug, Leicester

6th March - Cellars @ Chaplins, Boscombe

14th March - The New Adelphi, Hull (supporting City Of Lights)

15th March - The Cockpit, Leeds (supporting City Of Lights)

20th March - South Sea Live, Sheffield (supporting City Of Lights)

26th March - Jazz Cafe, London

27th March - Vaults, Rugby

28th March - Sound Music Venue, Cheltenham

6th April - Mercury Lounge, New York

8th April - Rockwood Music Hall, New York

10th April - Saltlands, Brooklyn

14th April - Venue, Washington DC

15th April - Venue, Boston

23rd April - The Borderline, London

4th July - Haslemere Festival, Haslemere