I don’t really know what to say about this.  It is very derivative, particularly opener Mountain Song, which sounds like a Neil Young cover, but I still really like this EP so somehow that doesn’t seem to matter.  I may never be blown away by this kind of thing, but I definitely do still think they’ve produced a really enjoyable record here.

I am not sure if it’s just that the songs are friendly and quietly infectious, or that there is a lovely warmth to the production, but for some reason it works for me.  It may be mining the same seam as the Fleet Foxes and countless other bands, albeit with a bit more guitar, and in many ways it really doesn’t add much in terms of progressing the genres on which it touches, but that’s not really how we listen to music, is it.

Basically we decide if we like something first and foremost in an instinctive manner, and then we make up reasons for it afterwards.  This stuff, I just kinda enjoy.  I like it.  It sits well with me.  I can hear all the reasons why I might dislike it, but they just don’t make that much impression – it just has a degree of completeness and internal consistency which gives the music a solid presence.

Consequently it’s the kind of EP I find myself turning to a lot and playing more than a lot of other things for which I could think of more obvious plaudits.  Is it All Worth It? is lovely, with the tiny bit of vocal harmony on the chorus the icing on the cake.  Mountain Song has really good pace and purpose, and Old Days is slow and melancholy.  It may not be spectacular exactly, but it works, and I’m enjoying it.  I look forward to more.

Treetop Flyers – Mountain Song

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