Sea Spirit - Sea Spirit EP

EP review by KevW

Here's a little challenge for you. It might be difficult given the events of the past few years, but try if you can, to cast your minds back just over a decade to when a little known band called Coldplay released their debut album. It was nothing ground-breaking but it contained a tidy batch of instantly likeable, well made mainstream indie tracks. Over time the band grew bloated, developed a mild god complex (complete with Jesus poses at every opportunity) and engineered everything they produced into stadium sized pomp. It was shame for those of us who quite liked them just being themselves and making decent tunes, although it didn't half make them a lot of money.

If you fell out of love with them when their music turned into chest-beating anthems, then have a go on this debut EP by New York artist Sea Spirit. After unsuccessful stints in various bands, Shane Quinn headed upstate to the Catskills and began work on this solo venture. It proved a winning move as these four tracks are accessible yet alternative at the same time, mixing haunting, soft vocals with gentle organic sounds to form a lush and dreamy wall of sound. There's fragility here, there's feeling here and there's melody here. Yet despite the warmth and honesty, tracks like 'Next Step' and 'Spheres' possess a spine-tingling power and the production perfectly brings the heart and soul out of these songs. With no self-aggrandisement in sight, Sea Spirit could well be worth falling for.


Sea Spirit's website





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