Released on 16th October 2011 through Toasty Recordings
Latest EP Cattle & Cane is full of climbing chords, expansive endings and reflective laments – not necessarily what one expects from a group growing up in Teeside. On opener Waiting Helen loops her lips around the words with a slight huskiness, but its grandiose chorus and fist clenching soaring melodies bring elements of the X factor into it. Poacher sees Joe take vocal lead, accompanied by a Noel Gallagher esque riff and drum beats that revolve along as if on their way to a duel, the culminating ‘I’m gonna get myself a kill’ delivered with a tap of the triangle. A live version of We Were Children demonstrates a light touch to the craft through its oozing vocals and lightly plucked guitar that could create that loudest of applause – silent rapture, but final track Sail Home threatens to err on the side of nativity play Christmas carol. Although easily filed under Fleet Fox wave folk, if they follow the route of Poacher there’s a steeliness to the serenity and the sound of the bucolic meeting the city grit which marks them out as potential long players.