Tall Ships

Oh look, what is that over on the horizon, another Big Scary Monsters artist ready to take on the world? Well, yes it is. Tall Ships, comprising of three members hail from Brighton but have been spending the most time in their new town of Falmouth, Cornwall, which is some twenty minutes drive from where I live.

This limited edition, four song EP starts of very nicely with ‘Books’ very much like an indie anthem with the organ opening the song only to be taken away by dancey synths. Floating somewhere between an Oxford youthmovies sound, with both folk and post rock sensibilities, ‘Books’ is versatile showcasing both a frantic and melodic side to the band. ‘Words Are Pegs Upon Which We Hang Ideas’ is a jangling nod to Ghosts & Vodka, bright cheery guitar tones over lapping beautiful while the drums keep the track steady with some brilliant hi-hat work. The best inclusion here though, is the trumpet mid way through and also the varying levels of spoken word vocals contained on the track. This is a bright, anthemic and danceable slab of nu-indie. ‘Vessels’, possibly the stand out track here, takes lessons from bands like Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros and uses them to create a beautiful song, with haunting group vocals the forefront as guitars amble on beautifully behind until the song veers off the track with a memorable distorted guitar riff and tribal drumming, worthy of being shown in adverts.

Tall Ships are a strange one, the end of 'Vessels' to me is a terrible way of ending a perfect sounding song with its sea shanty organ sound and at times, the songs can be too jangly, painfully indie. That said, this is Tall Ships first release on a label and if they improve upon this, there is no reason why they can’t achieve NME domination.

Tall Ships Myspace

3 / 5