Opening song Be Near Me Now promises a psychedelic journey, with echoing vocals and a mix of acoustic and electric instruments. The title promises to become a mantra, but sadly the piece turns out to be a mere fragment at a minute and a half. I would have liked the idea developed into a longer song as what we hear has great potential. 

Animals is a more fully formed song. The man behind This Calamity, Martyn Crocker, promises, ‘I’m hard to love, when I’m punching the walls.’ The mix of helium vocals and domestic trauma means this song comes across as The Bee Gees meets Whipping Boy. Crocker has grasped the art of dynamics, demonstrated by the way he strips the instrumentation down before bring everything back.

Caesar sees Crocker pondering his mortality. ‘The only thing that makes me sad, is the fact that I’ll be gone before we get the chance to spend forever together.’ Lyrically, Crocker doesn’t have much to add to mortality issue, ‘I must always try my best’ so it will be evident ‘I never took my time for granted.’ The song ends abruptly, perhaps mirroring the way in which our lives end?

Sometimes people make an instant impression, other times you need to spend time to get to know them. The nine minutes of music contained on the EP isn’t enough to get fully acquainted. 

Author: Stuart Moses