Neil McSweeney
Album: The Seventeen EP
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 4
Website: http://www.neilmcsweeney.com

With his first release since 2009's "Shoreline", Neil McSweeney emerges from the shadows of the Sheffield scene, with a brand new ep, "The Seventeen", though, initially at least, it will only be available as a limited edition of 300 physical copies. McSweeney seeing the release very much as the start of a ball rolling process towards an album in the Autumn.

This is very much an EP that showcases, the writing and performing skills of Neil McSweeney, highlighting the range of material that he's capable of delivering with a sound that includes west coast style harmonies as well as folk and Americana, penning three of the tracks himself and covering Townes Van Zandt's "To Live Is To Fly"

To support him in his endeavour, he has picked a stellar cast, Fatea Instrumentalist of the year, Sam Sweeney, Lucy Farrell, Andy Seward and Matthew (M.G.) Boulter, whose "The Water Or The Wave" we reviewed a few short days ago.

That "The Seventeen EP" is only four tracks does leave you feeling cheated, more so than a lot of eps and that is primarily down to the strength and breadth of the material, starting off with the anthemaic, "We Are Here", concluding with the rolling acoustic guitar orientated title track. I kept finding myself wanting another track like the one I'd just heard, only to be equally impressed by the variations across a theme, grab yourself a copy of this if you can, because Autumn feels a long way away.

Neil King