Fifteen Days
Album: The Oldest Lie EP
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 5
Website: http://www.fifteendays.bandcamp.com

One of things I regret about running Fatea is that I don't get as much time as I would like to get out there and discover new artists. Equally frustrating is not having as much time as I would like keeping track of the many artists, solo and with bands, that have impressed me over the years. The positive side is that gap is partially filled by those same artists reaching out to the magazine and starting new relationships or reacquainting older ones.

I've been lucky enough to be exposed to the songwriting and performances of Darren Plant, both under his own name and as Fifteen Days, so when I saw the Fifteen Days name on a new EP, "The Oldest Lie" it made a beeline straight for the cd player.

If I had to sum the EP up in one word, that word would be sparse, fortunately I'm allowed as many words as I like so let me give you some context. "The Oldest Lie" is an album that has a real old time delta blues feel. It's got a dirty feel, you can hear the hand sliding on the strings, heck there's even the odd bum note. Plant has a slow drawl vocal one you might associate with porch music, again you could argue there's the odd bum note, but regardless this is an ep that makes everynote count, makes you feel that every note has been lived for, draws on an experience.

Ignoring the accent, if someone were to say that this was a rediscovered release of early Mississippi John Hurt you would at least think it was plausible, but it does have that accent and it lifts the EP from being great pastiche into something very genuine. "The Oldest Lie" is five tracks that allow Fifteen Days a chance to deliver a soul, always a fair price for some old school blues.

Neil King