Opener ‘Plans Of Smoke And Mirrors’ starts with a visceral riff that soon descends into a battle onboard the Starship Enterprise, where space sounds duke it out with one another to the death.
Follow up ‘Duchenne Smile’ is missing that energy and urgency that really drove ‘Plans Of Smoke And Mirrors’ but has a brilliantly panned section towards the end that makes it an experience in itself.
All eight minutes of ‘Red Morning Trouble’ would work as smaller acts of a greater whole, but instead it comes across as a spliced together track that labours on ideas for longer than it should before moving on to, supposedly, greener pastures.
The only part that really works is the intense build up towards the end.
Closer ‘Threads’ slows things down and provides shelter from some of the more disorientating moments on the EP.
Words: Matthew Slater
