Letters: Older Motion Pictures EP

By RingMaster Review on May 5, 2012 • ( 0 )

For the past twelve months or so, Scottish dark indie pop band Letters has consistently released singles that brought passion and emotion hand in hand with deep stirring atmospheres and keen incisive melodies. Each release has taken and shown a further step forward in a band that almost evolves before the ear within the songs, each track a living and breathing force that identifies with the heart and thoughts. May 19^th sees the release of their new EP Older Motion Pictures and yet again the band has moved forward with a formidable measure.

The Older Motion Pictures EP is the follow up to recently released and impressive single The Halfway House. Unveiled through God Is In The TV Records, from the excellent God is in the TV webzine, the EP has a deeper depth and open maturity than anything they have released before and they were startling in their creativity and craft to start with. Recorded alongside Stephen Watkins of Edinburgh’s TAPE Studios the four songs within Older Motion Pictures wrap themselves around the senses with a consuming presence and a cinematic feel. The songs inspire visuals and thoughts from lives and places soaked in perpetually touching and stirring experiences. They pulsate and persuade with a closed and pervading intent to take one from their own world into the lives and thoughts within the stark inspirations fuelled the songs.

The opening track Explosions immediately pulls one within its vibrant and beckoning instrumental body, inspiring an eagerness to immerse within the emotive depths which clasp the ear from the start. With sharp crystalline melodies sparkling through the ambience texture which mesmerises the senses the song is a spark to incite the feelings. The song is quite uplifting and bright from Letters but still there is that melancholic atmosphere which laces everything and thickens fully with a captivating elegance within the following title track.

The song Older Motion Pictures is a powerful and wonderfully emotional creature. From the impactful piano lead the song envelopes the feelings gradually and totally. The drama brought by the ever stunning velvet cello of Georgie Williamson and the morose bass of Dougie Fuller is as extraordinary as the melancholic life of the song. The vocals of Mikey Ferguson are as evocative and impressive as ever and combined together with the guitar of Ed Ellis and the striking beats of Kerr Donaldson, there is a real sense of enormity and flavour which made the Walker Brothers the greats they were.

The EP is completed by two equally wonderful songs in Torren and From Time To Time. The songs yet again show the skilled intelligent songwriting and its translation into music that is much more than simply good sounds for the ear. The poppy impassioned Torren dances on the heart with an enthused air of an open and defiant heart whilst the closing From Time To Time with its anthemic gait stirs up the feelings as well as providing the deepest tingle from that irresistible cello and the imaginative guitars and melodies which sway and envelope every portion of their recipients.

Resourceful, evocative and completely mesmeric, Older Motion Pictures is another staggering release from not only one of the best bands in the UK, but one with a uniqueness of sound and quality that defies comparison with any other band. Letters paint with sound, textures and passion, their songs portraits that touch far more than the ear whilst being canvasses for our emotions to expand upon.

http://www.wewriteletters.co.uk/

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/

RingMaster 05/05/2012