I don’t often get vinyl through the post these days despite the revival of the format amongst the hipsters but that’s exactly what London based multi-instrumentalist Sands has sent and, with but a moment taken to blow the dust off the turntable of love, his four track, twelve inch single began its journey to 45rpm.
Vinyl doesn’t actually make music great but its very physicality does add to the whole listening experience and the four tracks here also have a certain retro feel that’s a match for the spinning black disc. “Poison In You”, for example, has a basic nineties grunge feel seasoned with a soupçon of psychedelia and a large pinch of guitar god pretensions and duly gains the kind of sonic impact that may well take Sands to the ears of a new audience. “Let It Roll”, on the other hand, is lighter and rockier and is full of the the kind of knowing conventionality that some might confuse with mediocrity.
On the flipside – I love flipsides – “Start Shakin’” starts things off in a slower and more emotionally focussed vein before “Celebrate” shows that Sands can flex his musical muscles and produce a song with both radio friendliness and the currently popular eighties chart bound feel. If any of the songs here were to be classed as breakthrough songs then I think “Celebrate” would be the one.
Available from Bandcamp.