It must be the weather. There must be something about overcast skies and snow that stops bands from releasing anything happy (as opposed to the enforced jollity characteristic of the festive season). As you might have gathered by now, it was little surprise to find that Edinburgh band Trapped Mice follow the downbeat road with their “Portrait of the Great Father EP”.
Swaying gently in the parochial breeze, Trapped Mice are the kind of band that aim to make serious seem fun. Or perhaps fun seem serious. Maybe. Singer Ian Tiling – in a manner reminiscent of a Morrissey after the surgical removal of all camp humour – emotes from the back of the stage only occasionally sneaking out to punch the air (in “Beauty and The Beast”, for example) while his musical foil Dave Friend recycles riffs on his guitar. Add in the weedy keyboards, steroid free drums and gleefully uncertain violin and it all gets a bit surreal with no finer evidence than that provided than the weird sample and salad sandwich segue from “Beauty and the Beast” into “Cavemen”.
Someday some anthropologist will dig up Frightened Rabbit and hail them as the source of all Scottish indie music and then Trapped Mice will find their true place in the firmament. Until that time, it is a safe conclusion to say that they do well for a band that doesn’t have a road map.
The EP is available for free download from Bandcamp.