Not Many Experts

Raw talent is far harder to find than you might think – and so when I first stumbled across the poignant, sultry tones of Liverpool-based band Tear Talk, I was even more impressed to learn that they all only started to play their respective instruments one year ago. I had already fallen for the patiently built evocation of “Parallel”, but going back and listening to it with the relative youth of the outfit in mind cast it in an altogether more promising light. Spread thinly across almost five introspective minutes are enough haunting melodies and confessional lyrics to do comparisons to The xx and King Krule justice. “Only Illusions”, the second track on the B R E A T H E EP, is no less impressive. Ethereal, reverb laden lyrics lead you into a screaming fog of a downcast riff that even My Bloody Valentine might well have been proud of.

The real accomplishment in this EP, though, lies in the fact that the whole thing is sodden with their own distinct character – an achievement that very few such embryonic bands manage to reach. Even more intriguingly, contrasted with the addictive, fuzzed out shoegaze of their debut EP, Port Sunlight, which was released this January on Bleeding Gold Records, B R E A T H E shows a band which is making huge strides forwards with each passing month – they may well be the most rapidly improving band in the country. What isn’t in doubt is their prodigious talent, so much so that you get the impression they won’t stay either static or a secret for much longer.