Sunday 10 May 2009

The Seven Inches - Openness and Honesty ep (Indie-mp3 Records)

That other half of Lost Music, Tom Bartlett, has also now started up his own label, and Leeds indiefop stalwarts The Seven Inches are on its first release. I've not seen this band for some years now, but this fantastic ep has made me want to seek them out all over again.
The title track takes me back to early Comet Gain with Ian Cockburn's rough growl tempered by Emily Clavering's matter-of-fact vocals, and a cheery background. It's a proper little strumpet of a song.
The Rowing Song reminds me why The Seven Inches are sometimes unfairly derided as some kind of comedy band, in the fact that it's about a minute long and shouldn't be taken too seriously at all. But it's closer To Boldy Go which steals the show. To Boldly Go is to The Seven Inches what The Foolishness We Create... was and is to Airport Girl; a sort of indiepop epic. It's beautiful, and bittersweet and longing and funny and sad all at the same time and I love it.
It's good to have The Seven Inches back. It really is.

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