Kowalskiy Belated Review #4

Amy Duncan - Potential-Space
As the cover art of her third album Potential-Space suggests, there are two sides to Edinburgh multi-instrumentalist Amy Duncan.  There's the beautiful, delicate, electonica side and then there's the slightly-more-traditional Celtic folky (but no less beautiful) side, both of which take turns forming the backdrop for her absolutely gorgeous voice.  The whole thing kicks off with Rare And Free, one of the gentle, enchanting folk songs.  Next up is Natural, a stunning track with only a simple piano melody and the faintest of guitars to accompany Amy's angelic vocals.  There's plenty of other tracks on this album that highlight her musical and vocal talent, helped in no small part by some great lyrics from songwriting partner David Paton.  Picks of the bunch for me though are the dreamy, electronica Always A Way and Untitled, another piano-led track, reminiscent of Patrick Wolf at his most achingly-beautiful.  Now to go listen to the first two albums...  

Night Noise Team - Menolick/You Won/Burning
The next band I've been neglecting is Edinburgh's multinational outfit Night Noise Team.  On the 8^th November, they followed up their two previous singles Menolick and You Won (both were also criminally overlooked by me, but are now available as free downloads) with the release of their third offering.  Burning grabs your attention from the off with its brooding riffed intro and ominous Middle Eastern melodica before its hooky chorus and fast-paced drumming take over, providing a great contrast to singer Sean Ormsby's slower, Byrnesque vocals.  Debut single, Menolick is a dark, dancey, post-rock affair, like something from Antics-era Interpol.  Then there's second single You Won.  This one's definitely more Jamiroquai than Joy Division, with its funky and soulful bassline and perfectly-placed disco handclaps.  I guess the mirrorball on the cover should've given the game away.  Still, its another great single.  This team are certainly making all the right noises!  With these three cracking tracks under their belts, only time will tell whether they're just another great singles band.  I for one can't wait for the album to find out! 

The Cinnamons - 5 Songs EP
I've been meaning to say a few words about Castlemilk's D.I.Y. indie synthsters The Cinnamons for a while now, ever since I heard their brilliant track Welcome To The Business on the Define Pop radio show.  It was released for free over the course of the summer with four other tracks which are now being re-released as the 5 Songs EP on the 29^th.  So, regardless of whether this is belated or not, it's about time it got a wee mention.  If you've missed the boat already with the free downloads, then you'd best be prepared to get your wallet out, because this is a wee belter!  Sometimes has a great Pulp-y disco-pop feel with fast, fluid vocals.  You'll be hard pushed to top Soul For Sale and Where We're Going as the EP highlights though.  Both of the rousing, singalong choruses are firmly lodged in my head.  5 Songs is exceptionally good.  So good in fact that we can forgive the slight 'Courteenersiness' of the vocals...