Something Beginning With L – The Listed Building EP

 

Don't let the opener of London trio Something Beginning With L’s debut EP deter you from further investigation. Angel Sized might prove to be a somewhat vapid slice of sugar-coated indie-pop, but what follows after is rather special. A dramatic shift finds Younger Thoughts drifting amidst the harmonies of Lucy Parnell and Jen Macro, flanked by a flutter of piano and a woozily sedated rhythm section, whilst their cover of Expansion Ride by Norfolk indie veterans Magoo plays out like a fantastic, fractured fairy tale. But it’s the closing track, Unwittingly Beautiful, which takes the trophy, with its sophisticated, slow-burn of soporific bass, electro-textures and shimmering distortion removing it as far as one can imagine from this EP’s shaky start. [Paul Neeson]