I almost fell through a time-warp opening the envelope and pulling out this EP. After sniffing to see if it smelled of patchouli it was time to work out that it was a new and second release from Isle Of Scilly duo West Wickhams and yes, it is all rather magenta. I had seen this pair in support of Christian Death earlier in the year and noticed they had similarly taken the stage with the likes of The Members, Jesus Jones and The Buzzcocks, all bands that are rather veteran compared to the assumed age of the players here Jon Othello and Elle Flores. They describe their craft as ‘psychedelique Garage Noir’ but if you want to put things in simpler terms the post-punk, Indie tags will do just fine here.

We get 5 tracks and just under a quarter of an hour’s worth of music on this EP. One thing I had mentioned live is that I would have liked to hear a bit more of Elle singing and the good news here is she does just that on the first couple of songs. Over a jangling twang and Gothic sounding structures with just a bit of bounce, her voice is just there hanging in the background on opener ‘Swear Above Suspicion.’ It’s a bit wan and listless and that is not a complaint as it suits the dour mood, perhaps at odds to what we have been told, namely that “The colour magenta is a colour of cheerfulness, happiness, contentment and appreciation.” Post-punk ala The Cure, Joy Division and even Half Man Half Biscuit hits ‘This Is A Hang Up.’ The guitar work has a timeless melody and those vocals hang in a pale fashion alongside them

The mood is lifted a little with more in the way of vocal definition as Jon takes up things on ‘Even The Heather’s Ask Why’ and you can see him sitting on a tuffet at home shouting questions at the natural foliage. It’s a bit odd as is the quirky title of this and ‘Masculin Feminin Hot Jump’ which could almost be titles taken out of Mark E Smith’s songbook. The latter song is short ballad with a hint of protest in lyrics.

There’s a little bit of everything in the mix here which shows just why the duo have been treading the boards with a wide variety of acts. No doubt they will build upon the material they have and catch further attention over time. Hopefully they will be back at some point with a full-length album.

(6.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/westwickhams

https://goldenbelieversrecords.bandcamp.com/album/magenta-ep