Foundlings is the self-titled debut EP from the London and South Coast based four-piece released through the Last Night From Glasgow label. Featuring recent single Enemy and four new tracks the EP feels both instantly familiar but also fresh and invigorating.
Foundlings is a thing of real beauty, a refreshingly warm set of five songs that reflect on the trials of love and loss but coat themselves in hooks, melodies and harmonies that will charm you into submission.
“What became of my enemy, an enemy I called my own?” muses Amber on the EP’s lead track Enemy to the sound of a driving beat that’s so unnervingly catchy that you can’t help but fall for it. Veronica Falls were the last band to capture this particular art so perfectly and Foundlings feel like they’re a natural heir to that vacated throne. The songs wrap themselves around you with a blanket of feeling like you’ve known them all your life such is the way they simply attach themselves to your subconscious.
It’s impossible not to smile at the first few bars of Caught Up before Amber muses over the itching scratch of a relationship she can’t cover with balm - “every now and then I still see you, can we not pretend you’ve forgotten.” Foundlings make this whole thing seem quite effortless.
Busan has a harder edge to it without losing the simple poetic beauty of what’s preceded it, even when the middle eight builds and stretches itself out, drums leading the way as Amber is left alone with her thoughts declaring “all sane thoughts escape me, I can’t escape this train”
“When I’m bruised and I’m beat, the feeling gets to me” is the descriptive critical line in Slumber, a restless wandering song that sees the band spread their wings aided by a crisp unfussy production that allows you to appreciate the drums in particular that don’t dominate but clearly dictate the pace.
The EP concludes with Fall Out, another resigned lament on battered bruised love - “this’ll never work out right, you’re both fools” - but lifted out of gloom and doom by delicious harmonies layered down in the mix and a jangly guitar that simply disarms the listener from focusing on the melancholy of the lyrics.
Foundlings is an impressive debut; a record that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard to impress you, but in doing so does it in spades. Utterly charming in its execution to the point of distraction and rich in timeless qualities of the very best bedsit indie pop music, it’s impossible not to fall a little bit in love with them by the end.
Foundlings are on Facebook and Twitter.
The EP can be purchased from the Last Night From Glasgow website.
They play London Sebright Arms (March 2), Hastings The Carlisle (3) and Glasgow Stereo (16).
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