In February 2008, they released ‘Build and Burn’, their second full length, and despite initially considering the album solid, but not a classic, it has grown on me greatly during the last few months. So much, in fact, that I readily awaited this new release, and felt a rare shiver of excitement, before hitting ‘play‘.

The first song, ‘Distracted’, picks up where ‘Build and Burn’ left off, with a hearty dose of Americana. All the ingredients that made the last album so pleasing remain, from Dave Hause’s gravelly, yet melodic vocals, to the distinct Americana flavour. The opening track, is very catchy, yet has substance, all too often a rare combination. Hause readily tells us the tale of a woman taking control of her life, (‘The makeup covered the bruises, but somehow made her blind / She got distracted, lost the sense of the urgency in life’), and his impassioned vocals hit the right spot between sentimentality and urgency. There was a definite sense of progression on the last album, from the first effort (‘Keep Your Heart’), and you can feel the change here again, with the gentle, careful intro to the second track ‘Last Call’, and the structure of that song, softer, but still evocative of the storm which it describes; you can almost see the lightning, hear the thunder and feel the wind . ‘Spy Diddley’ reverts to the usual formula again but doesn’t quite have the punch of the first track, or as good a hook.

The second half of the EP consists of three covers; ‘Johnny 99’ (Bruce Springsteen), ‘Lovers Town Revisited’ (Billy Bragg), and ‘Coma Girl’ (Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros), all influences on the band. Of these, ‘Coma Girl’ and ‘Johnny 99’ stand out, though none are as impressive as the original versions. The EP is good, but not excellent, with the only outstanding song the title(ish) track, but it is worthy interim material, as the band record their next album.