El Cantar De Mio Cid EP

Hero Rhymes With Zero  www.myspace.com/bearsfromlabrador

A four-tracker by an outfit your reviewer knows nothing about, save for a sentence reading ‘English Americana with powerful and intelligent lyrics’. Lily Allen covers of these songs unlikely, then. I have been playing this disc and there are definite tinges of the late great oddball Arthur Lee of mysterious West Coast band Love. The way that electric and acoustic instrumentation is attained and balanced is impressive and the (male) singer is very listenable. If they cut it live, we’d certainly like to hear more. On to the selections included, then.

Opener ‘Chop It Down’ is a confident electric rumbler with dirty-sounding guitars with a hypnotic riff and cooing backing vocals, the drummer sounds a little like that ace bod in The Parlotones. If you dig Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Mr Soul’, have a listen to this ; ‘Me and Bella Star’ is where the Arthur Lee romantic influence seems to come through and mariachi horns just add to this impression.

‘Love’ starts with backwards trickery before a Motown beat pushes a bittersweet tune to the fore with more horns featured. This drummer has the perfect feel for these twisting melancholic odes, in fact the whole ensemble seem to understand dynamics, unafraid to drop back to nothing at appropriate spots. ‘Cruel As the Wind’ is a gentle piece with a hint of detuned chorus in the ghostly slide guitar overlay and distant organ drone.

Something good about this lot

Pete Sargeant    www.fairhearing.co.uk