Rob St John - Like Alchemy EP

Recorded live one evening in Edinburgh's Stockbridge Church and accompanied by members of the city's underground folk scene, this short EP is a fragile and haunting thing. St John's guitar jangles discordantly from time to time, the harmonium wheezes gently in the background, and the eerie warblings of a saw occasionally rises from the ether, lending the whole thing a comforting, after-hours feeling reminiscent of James Yorkston or David Thomas Broughton. Along with releases this year from Eagleowl, Withered Hand, Meursault and Les Enfant Bastard, this is further proof that the Edinburgh alt-folk scene is burning as brightly as a petrol-doused Wickerman. [Milo McLaughlin]