Review: Tatterattles - Tatterattles EP

Open e-mail. Read press release. Look at the name Tatterattles. Let images of Tera Melos and Battles come to mind. Play EP. Realise that it's definitely not that. Check it out anyway. Slowly fall in love with said EP. Write review. And now here we are. 

A single pluck in Handsmedown almost made me cry. Not a single note had ever done that to me before. It took a while to sink in. Maybe it's the thought of my girlfriend thousands of miles away for Valentine's Day. Maybe it's just me being overwhelmed by many of the things happening around me at the moment. So many maybes, and only one certainty. Damn you, Benjamin Fletcher aka Tatterattles, for your contributions towards my inevitable nervous breakdown. 

Other tracks aren't moments of relentless sunshine either. Take 'Alas, Alack!' for example. It's a morosely melancholic yet somewhat hopeful track, dominated by an endlessly repeated series of finger-plucking and vocals reminiscent of Stuart Warwick at his most brilliant. This comparison holds up in 'Dead Letters' too, evoking memories of Warwick's song 'Ex-Gay' in some parts.

It's a similarity most definitely a consequence of mutual influences more than anything, and by the time 'Learning How To Fly' comes along, Tatterattles are a little more upbeat. An unnamed female vocalist sings a not-quite-twee, simple and short song accompanied by bird whistlings and Fletcher's supporting vocals. It's a wonderful change from the melancholic start, even if the lyrics aren't all about the fine and dandy. 

'Too Soon' is the most folk-ish out of the five tracks on offer, but the essence stays the same. The overall sense is that you are listening to a man in a state of indulgent sadness, deriving both pleasure and pain from heartbreak. Emotionally, it's a very moving record. Your heartstrings will be pulled, tears will be shed, and sheds will be made into personal fortresses of solitude.

Cry your beardly tears, Tatterattles, it's okay. We are here for you, and we hear you.

The EP is due to be released on 18th February on Holy Ghost Records.

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Musical Mathematics // Album Review // Love Among The Mannequins - Radial Images

Let’s get this out of the way, Love Among The Mannequins features some big names. Members of Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea, O You Broken Eyes, and Shoes & Socks Off all come together to release Radial Images. This album is littered with literary references and classical allusions, many of which I’m probably far too ignorant to recognise without a full-day googling session that is, and even that might not suffice.

While you knowledge of the lives and passions of such figures as Nikola Fyodorovich Fyodorov, Arnold Schoenberg or George Robert Price would provide insight into some of the themes, a listener doesn’t need to spend hours dissecting the song titles and lyrics to enjoy Radial Images.

At times a challenging listen, the album is mostly shoegaze punk with intermittent bursts of hardcore sound. As the members are so diverse, the sound of this record is hard to categorize.


Taken from MM Issue 6 - Buy it HERE

Words by Jay Johar


Read the rest of my review HERE.

New Music Video: Brontide - Colour Tongues

Brontide have released their new music video for their latest single, Coloured Tongue.



The single is available on pre-order at Holy Roar Records.

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Album Review // Hyms - Cardinal Sins / Contrary Virtues // Musical Mathematics

It’s always risky for a band to release a double album at any point in their career. To do it for your debut – as a two-piece, no less – seems nothing short of audacious. Further more, to call yourself Hymns, make use of church organs in your music and then describe yourself as atheist rockers smacks of intentional provocation. But despite all this, there’s no denying that Cardinal Sins / Contrary Virtues is a mammoth of a release.  

The first half – titled Cardinal Sins - is the more rock heavy disc of the two albums, with a venomous garage rock sound that’s very much influenced by the likes of Nick Cave. ‘Prologue’ begins your listening experience with a short, apt choral introduction flowing into ‘A Punch To The Temple’, the first single from the release that truly sets the tone to this epic piece of work.  

Read the rest of my review on Musical Mathematics. 

This review is published in issue #6 of the Musical Mathematics zine, which you can buy HERE.