You can go far in this life if you are lucky enough to be born with both charm and a lyrical disposition and Paisley’s own Marie Collins seems to have rolled a double six. “Hands Over Ears” is the title of her EP and you would have to have a cryogenically frozen heart to remain unmoved by the way she sugar coats the bleak centre of her songs.
Endearingly accented and seemingly innocent – at least if you are prone to confusing presentation with fact – Ms. Collins nudges her way towards twee pop territory with echoes of Glasgow’s guitar pop heritage clearly ringing in her ears. “Buddy Holly”, almost an anachronism in the context of the other songs on this EP, is less of Lubbock’s favourite son than of Edwyn Collins candyfloss angst but floats easily up into the clouds nonetheless.
Her serious side does dominate though and “All We Are” rambles on in a manner both downbeat and reflective that would suggest that the post folk nihilism of Leonard Cohen had mixed itself in with the ink in her pen and, surprisingly given her youth, she seems driven to further investigate the shadows cast by her heart in “Trees”.
Altogether deeper and darker than one might expect, Marie Collins always manages to charm your ears even when it is raining in her heart.
This EP is available from Bandcamp on CD and cassette.