Cherbourg - The Last Chapter Of Dreaming EP (Chess Club)
4/5
By: Kevin Molloy
'Never Love Again' is the leading track, in all senses, of Cherbourg's inaugural EP. Its anthemic, chanted chorus will have festival crowds in raucous union all summer long. Andrew Davie's sombre and meaning-laden vocals lead the song on the slow-burning path all the way up to the second minute, before they lose the fiddle and restraint. Even then, the song is throughout a masterful show of restraint and dynamics - most bands with a chorus as catchy would have made a song twice the length, with half the appeal, and none of the complexity.
The remainder of the EP fulfils the darker promise that Cherbourg made between rousing choruses on 'Never Love Again'. Life, 'Horses' seems to tell you, is a very important and serious affair - the strings give the weightier of your feelings a place to swell. 'Let You Down', on the other hand, is a more anticipated event - lyrically simpler, and melodically reminiscent of the semi-spoken tones of their peers (see also Emmy the Great). Of all the songs on the EP, its message is easily the most optimistic, and yet the heavy heart of irish folk the band picked up somewhere along the way still leaves a morose aftertaste. 'The Mill' closes the EP with a delicate display of finger-picked guitar, four part harmonies, and a layered, deepening outro. By Cherbourg's standards it's an epic, weighing in at nearly 6 minutes, and the only song to breach the 4 minute mark.
As a whole it's a great display of a young band's prowess, and a bold statement of serious songwriting, just ahead of a summer filled with optimistic jingles and jangles. The only thing lacking, you feel, is the off-kilter, or the unexpected - the EP does leave you wondering if Cherbourg have it in them to knock you off your metaphorical feet. It's a small criticism to a great first offering, though - and one they'll have ample time to refute, if worthiness has any effect on longevity.
Artists in this article: Cherbourg
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