Alex Hulme There Was a Boy EP review

Comprising of four, uncluttered acoustic led songs, LIPA attendee Alex Hulme’s second EP finds the newcomer pitching his tent in the same sonic territory as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

Commencing with the title track, the most upbeat offering here, the song pushes Hulme’s strong plaintive voice high in the mix.

The banjo accompaniment to Bones call Sufjan Stevens to mind, the groundbreaking New Yorker’s influence seemingly finding its way into almost all on acoustic/roots performers’ material in recent years.

Forests, the strongest track of the set evokes ‘Cape leader Sam Duckworth’s recent solo LP.

Centred around an unwinding guitar arpeggio and handclaps, the song opens up roughly halfway through, the repeated choruses turning into a mantra.

Dare, beginning with the Dylan esque lyric of ‘You dare to the tread on the toes of the sun’, switching time signatures and moods deftly, brings the EP to a conclusion.

Clocking in at under 12 minutes, the disc certainly serves notice of Hulme’s talent, the singer-songwriter confident enough to allow the songs to stand on their own, cutting through with clarity.

There Was a Boy is out now on Cityscape Records

ALEX HULME EP Launch,

Friday, 23rd – Liverpool EP Launch
7:30 pm
3345 Parr Street Liverpool

FREE ENTRY

http://www.myspace.com/alexhulmeacoustic