The Seventeenth Century - The Notes EP

The Seventeenth Century are a baroque folk pop collective threading strings and things through dramatic songsmithery. As such, they’re far from groundbreaking, slotting neatly alongside My Latest Novel, Broken Records and dozens of others in what is soon likely to overtake bagpipes and reels as the premier Scottish Music Stereotype. Lead track Notes is an underwhelming introduction, offering little new to an oversubscribed field, but luckily it’s the weakest of this EP’s tracks.

The opening fanfare of Roses in the Park yields to cannoning vocals and a stirring, communal conclusion, while Young Francis’s military snare heralds bittersweet brass and a subtle crescendo, suggesting that while the Seventeenth Century aren’t scene vanguards, they’re a welcome addition to an existing one. [Chris Buckle]