If it is the “cold light of day” that is given over to the practicalities of life, a time for fresh starts and renewed vigour, it is The Golden Hour, the dying embers of the day when the light changes in increments of gold and grey, that is a time for reflection. And that is the place explored so sensitively and sensually by Collect Call’s latest EP.
“Chase The Light”, the track which opens the record, has already worked its magic ahead of this release and any coming to this four-track collection after bathing in its deft and delicate charms will find much to love. The same goes for “Simple” which follows it and both these previous singles are built of the same fractured romanticism, the same weaves of digital chimes and spacious and drifting dreamscapes, the same whistful tones and nostalgic textures.
“No Amount of Medicine” is a subtle and subtle sonic waltz, one that deftly steps along a fine line between dance and dream-pop, ambience and addictiveness and things round off with the title track, a collection of sonic moves that ebb and flow between understated classical grace and futuristic cinematic beauty.
Being able to use space to such great effect is a rare skill, one that more musicians and songwriters should embrace and it is the title track in particular but the whole record in general that reminds us that making powerful music, as in poised and poignant rather than anything more mundane, is sometimes as simple as merely cocooning the eddies and atmospheres of the natural world with only the bare minimum of sonic structure. It might seem like a simple idea and you might even be able to do it. But you won’t do it anything like as brilliantly as Collect Call, and that is something that I can assure you.
