Before he became the director of films such as Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe wrote about classic rock music of the 1970s for Rolling Stone. Last week he tweeted about the "excellent" (his word) debut EP from Glasgow's Skinny Dipper. You've got to think that here's a man who knows what he's talking about when it comes to music.
The eight-girl/one-guy band features members of Randolph's Leap, Quickbeam, Aerials Up, Kill The Waves, Blochestra and Trapped In Kansas. While a trained ear can probably hear a bit of each of them on the new record, Skinny Dipper pull all the strands together to make music that simultaneously nails a dominant Scottish style of the moment and is distinctively, gorgeously its own thing.
Landing, the first of the five tracks here, is a definitive lesson in how to craft a pure pop chorus from Scottish indie-folk ingredients, while Hospital Bed combines fresh, clear vocals with a beautifully appealing tune and (the key factor across the entire EP) a complexity within the arrangements that keeps on giving, play after play after play.
Only a handful of songs, but an impressive showcase for writing and performance nevertheless. Fingers crossed Skinny Dipper is not just a side project but a long-term affair.
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