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Dirdsbead

Stripped down and sparse, the music on Dirdsbead's eponymous EP shifts between warm and haunting. Dirdsbead is a singer songwriter from Sheffield who mixes acoustic and electric guitar, vocal effects and minimal percussion.

Dirdsbead opens with ‘I Made All The Rules (That Keep Me Away From You)’, which has a similar feel to Bon Iver, a soft lilting tone conjured by melancholic vocals. Lyrics like “Want to go back to the seaside / Want to go back to the sand,” help give the song a sense of yearning. This is followed by ‘Magazines’, a rant about the superficiality of the media, with lyrics like “I'd expect so much more from a human / Than the ones in all the magazines.” His thoughts are given more purpose by a raw mixture of folk and blues.

The EP seems to lose some momentum with the track 'We All Must Row'. Dirdsbead shows some adept guitar playing, with an acoustic passage that is reminiscent of John Fahey. The problem is that, clocking in at nearly ten minutes long, it appears to roll along with little direction. He brings the release to a close with ‘Golden Tiles’, an absorbing experiment in creating an illusory mood with the generous use of reverb and simple hand claps. However, like 'We All Must Row' it suffers from a lack of real purpose.

Dirdsbead exhibits potential and genuine guitar playing prowess. His performance throughout the EP encapsulates a rawness and sincerity that doesn't feel contrived, and the intensity of the music is arguably enhanced by the lo-fi production. It would be interesting to see him stretch his material over a full-length album if he can retain a level of consistency.