The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - Home EP

Home is an incredibly mature effort for sun-trapping boy Colin MacLeod, considering that he was last spotted drunkenly dishing out Deep Purple covers in an Aberdeen bar. The title track is a finely wrought acoustic blues number that drops a heavy couple of hooks over a deftly stuttered beat, its bravado deceptively drawing in listeners for what turns out to be a sober remainder of an EP. In the Dark is haunted by the ghost of Nick Drake, whilst The Fox finds MacLeod’s vocal floating in the style of Thom Yorke, its pained expression contrasting with serene piano. Producing an arresting voice in such a tried and tested format is no easy task, but Home is an uncommon success. [Joe Barton]