Finding herself in New York, a city not short of a musician or two, singer-songwriter Maddy Wyatt decided to expand from solo artist to full band by calling on her brothers Paul and Alex to form the genesis of Wyatt. With the addition of Zach Lane and Dana Haynes they were ready to go. Building upon their experience of improvising together as children, using household objects to create sounds, along with musical ability picked up at school (they don't shy away from using flute, clarinet and other music lesson staples) they began to flesh out the sounds of Maddy's songs. This self-titled EP is four examples fairly conventional indie-folk, but with a glint in its eye, giving it a likeable and humane touch.
Beginning with the aforementioned flute, 'Octopus King' is a reasonably routine strum through familiar singer-songwriter territory but the addition of occasional wind instruments and tambourine lend a plesent quirkiness. 'Nobodys' could almost be Nouvelle Vague covering Fleetwood Mac. Again it's likeable without being overly remarkable. The real highlights of this EP are the countryish, picked and slightly moody 'Good Fight' and, best of all, 'Leonah' which is the closest Wyatt come to sounding like a complete band rather than a backed singer-songwriter. The melody is stronger and the slow build creeps up on you gently, bringing a subtle force. And this subtlety is the key; it would be all to easy to go over the top here, but the restraint only adds to the power. If they keep this up they might really be on to something.
To stream 'Wyatt' in full and get a free download of 'Leonah' head to Wyatt's website
Buy the EP
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