There’s a brilliant moment, about a minute into opener ‘Montgolfier’, where the choral shouting and jammed laptop changes into martial drums and swirling, swelling strings, and a little chiming guitar can just be made out in the distance. Little moments like this, of noises as texture, are threaded through the debut Among Brothers EP, the second release from the incestuous pair behind Barely Regal records (Matt and Isaac have roles in rabble rockers Goodtime Boys, Alexander Comana’s solo stuff, as well as forming one third of, hey, Among Brothers). ‘Homes’ is five tracks of dense and precious orchestral swoon and musically it’s pretty faultless, Charlie Francis’ production sheen giving a lustrous coat to every piano ripple and percussive rustle. Songs build up from layers of glitching electronic tones and murmured vocals, invariably twisting into some dramatic second (or third) movement. It feels like it’s standing up for swishness.

It’s in the vocal department that ‘Homes’ might prove most divisive. Certainly, some of the more emotive and breathy straining can detract from the impressive musical storms brewing. Things work better if they’re less exposed: chanted and blurred, or swaddled in ‘ba-ba-ba’s as in ‘My Head Is A Vessel’. Songwise there’s little here the milkman would etch into his skin, anything approaching a chorus being pretty subservient to the swooping, demanding sounds present. Some great sounds though: ‘Sam, Isiah And The Wolf’ revolves around a repeated piano riff that thrums beautifully between juddering laptop and keening violin; ‘Bare Teeth’ does little except shimmer nicely towards a clanging, discordant ending, while the aforementioned ‘Vessel’ rides some nifty stop start dynamics to a crashing, melodramatic swoon of an ending. It’s the grand scope of ambition that’s the main draw here, the tension between what’s being strained towards and the noise created made more thrilling for them not always getting there. Full kudos to bands with their heads in the stars; Among Brothers pull enough of them down to make ‘Homes’ an imperfect treat.

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