Writing about a record made by your friends is a difficult thing to do. Mainly because I know that if I don't say that the new Baffin Island ep isn't the bee's knees, then they'll hunt me down and duff me up. Thankfully, that's never going to happen, because this self-titled single is wonderful.Treading a fine line between the graceful death disco of Camera Obscura, and the pop thrill of Free Loan Investments, Baffin Island make it all sound very easy indeed. If 'Sorry for Myself' sounds too upbeat to mope to, then you can be sure that 'This Year' is just the right side of downright maudlin. Or perhaps you'd like to immerse yourself in the Wurlitzer pop of 'That Summer', which taunts you with a ghostly visitation.
Baffin Island, as you might already know, is the place geographically equidistant between Boise and Glasgow, and so 'We Were Meant to Meet', the closing track here, is kind of apt. The best song here, it combines a kind of coy world-weariness that is the hallmark of all the best love and lost and then found again songs. It's pretty much perfect - a sort of downbeat northern soul classic, if you will (and you will).
As a side project to the Hermit Crabs and The Very Most, the Baffin Island make a splendid job of actually being better than those two bands. A super group.
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