WALL – Shoestring EP

WALL made her debut last year with a cover of Karen Dalton's Something On Your Mind, a sparse, understated, synth-led number which showcased her subtle vocals in an intimate, twilit, nocturnal soundscape. Her new EP starts out in similar territory, with the title track and Place Too Low pairing barely-there beats and synths with her breathy vocals.

It works, although the twee factor is dangerously close to overload, and in fact spills over into saccharnine tweeness unashamedly with the whimsically depressed Valentine. All Alone is the strongest track, with washed out hip-hop beats, what sounds like an oboe, and her vocals pushed underneath a crackling filter of analogue tape hiss. [Bram E. Gieben]