In The Willows - Long Time Listener EP Review

It's been a good year for Waterford-based 5 piece, In The Willows, from qualifying to the final three in the Red Bull Bedroom Jam, to getting places on the Indiependence and Castlepalooza line up, to getting high praise from Hot Press Magazine. May I remind  you the band have only been touring as a full 5-piece since last January. Not a bad start with only a three track EP.

Long Time Listener was published on bandcamp.com in April, and can now be downloaded for free, or you can name your price.  The EP kicks off with Time of Year which really did give me shivers down my spine.  There is something spectacular and mysterious about Dee's voice; simply breath-taking.  If Hayley Williams and Kate Bush were to have a love child, it'd be her.  Upon hearing the instrumental opening of the track, I sense a bit of The XX, but there's a vulnerability to this EP that fails me to compare them to another artist.  The melody is soft, easy listening, something quite heavenly.

We hear John's vocal talent shine through in the second track Trying.  I love the brittleness of the recording, whether it was done on purpose, or down to no dough, it adds a masculinity to the feminine harmonies.  It's Chris Martin meets Debbie Harry.  This masculine/feminine collision is present all to briefly in the final track It's Over with Niall supporting husky vocals behind Dee's crisp voice.  I can't emphasis my love for the dreaminess of this EP. I am genuinely blown away.

There's something about the band I can't put my finger on.  There is a cloud of mystery as to what genre they are, although they proclaim to be alternative folk.  I have to disagree.  Have a band out in 2012 really started something new and original?  Have they created their own genre? The whole concept baffles me, but all the marrow in my bones believes they really have.

"The Waterford band have only been playing together since October, but have already wowed  crowds in their neck of the woods with their brand of alternative  folk. Their exquisite harmonies have drawn comparison to Fleet Foxes, whilst they themselves have a certain fondness for the dreaminess of Mazzy Star." -

Hot Press Magazine