This Belfast-born brother-sister act smash out their brand new debut EP ‘World Don’t Shine’ with flying colours…
This four track EP shows some of the Scouse impishness that we hear in the also new and upcoming support band for The Arctic Monkeys that are The Strypes; though Southern take a whole new take on a whole new bluesy kind of folk.
The two piece vocal harmonies create a huge distraction from the catchy guitar riffs used in tracks such as ‘Just Think About It‘. The song uses such repetitive yet minimalistic melodies which really captivate you. The two vocal parts work extremely well together as they both have soft, nostalgic tones. The whispery vocals become haunting as the track goes on.
The most popular song on their four-track EP seems to be ‘World Don’t Shine‘. The introductory use of the finger picking of the acoustic guitar creates a steady pulse and really makes you anticipate the rest of the song. The simple introduction lets the rest of the instrumental just slowly drop in, with the drum-beat and slow vocals creating a build up for the first verse. ‘World Don’t Shine‘ definitely consists of the “bluesiest” feel out of the whole EP. The quirky repetitive lyrics and canons uses in their vocal lines really create an old-school country blues feel, more founded in the early 1960’s. It’s nice to know that the younger generation are still taking inspiration from earlier genres of music.
‘Cool Kid‘ brought out Southern’s rockier side. Focusing more on the drums, the beat is heavier and the guitar is strummed more than picked. The vocals are also more hoarse – up until the chorus that is. The chorus brings out their compatibility to bands such as The Arctic Monkeys (in their earlier days) and also The Civil Wars. The Alex Turner type vocal pronunciation and The Civil Wars harmony similarity creates a strong contrast to the other tracks used on the EP. This is also seen in ‘Shout It‘. The track shows strong influence from tracks such as ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair‘ by The Arctic Monkeys and The Civil Wars cover of ‘Billie Jean‘. It shows the fiercer, slower vocals used in ‘Don’t Sit Down…‘ and laid back finger picking used in ‘Billie Jean‘
The EP itself shows a huge dynamic in music today. Each track introducing us to completely different vibes shows that this band are ready to give us their all in music today. Just within these four tracks you can see the amount of time and effort they have already put in to giving us this unreal sound; and this is only just the beginning.
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