*Kid Harpoon - The First EP (EP)

Kid Harpoon – The First EP (Young Turks)

Kid Harpoon has toured with the likes of; The Kooks, Jamie T, Mystery Jets, Larrikin Love and Fionn Regan. With all of these names attached one would expect something new, jittery and exciting. One would be unfortunately mistaken. This EP is an incredibly odd selection of songs to choose to release. The travelling train momentum of ‘Milkmaid’ - the opening track on the EP is promising, the lyrics while being completely unrelatable, are quirky enough to attract the attention for a closer listen. But it seems this song would be more fitting at a country hoedown than something to present to entertain a gig audience. Harpoon’s voice has a definite appeal but the material just lacks any kind of excitability factor. ‘As it always was’ is probably the best song on the EP, a simple acoustic number with simple charm. ‘Aeroplanes and Neon lights’ sounds more like a theatrical number in a play, and suggests that Harpoon’s work might suit the world of poetry more than music. ‘Small town war’ rounds off the EP slightly switching between a rougher and more polished quality of sound recording giving the song more character than the others. The EP finishes with one of Harpoon’s demos, ‘The Water’ but fails to have any real redeeming qualities. The prediction is that people will be disappointed with this as the first real offering from Kid Harpoon, and will have expected more. A charismatic fellow he clearly is, but as for the EP - it rarely rises above bland.

3/10