From Iceland — Epilepsy EP

Published November 21, 2015

Let’s be straight from the start on this one: it’s not all indie-rock, quite often it’s the other way around; “Brick Thief”, the final track on this grower of an EP, provides more crunch than you’d anticipate from the Big Country-ish opener “What We Get”. That first song showcases the band’s propensity for the smooth guitar lead line over a mix of jangly riffs and more grungy guitar sounds, with tales of urban living and kitchen-sink moments ready to tell the story.

There’s a tinge of regretful energy to “Death Of The Party”, which in the hands of another band could easily head down a pop-punk cul-de-sac but thankfully there’s a little more to Rythmatik than that. Whilst that noodly lead can sound a little dislocated from the rest of the song on occasion, there are enough ideas there to speak to a bright future.

The unison intro to “Sleepyhead” is further evidence that this is a band that understands the possibilities of dynamic interplay over a neo-dance beat. “Alabaster” sports harmonic moments and guitar arrangement that are delicately put together to leave the vocal prominent before the epic chorus kicks in, and the aforementioned “Brick Thief” brings it all together with a much more Muse-y sensibility. Plenty more to come, I reckon, from these chaps.