Tall Firs: Edgy and intriguing

2:40pm Wednesday 12th March 2008

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Too Old To Die Young: Tall Firs (Ecstatic Peace).

How best to describe the music of Tall Firs? Not easy, really, because they don't sound like anyone else.

The music comes from guitarists Dave Miles and Aaron Mullen, whose clever riffs chime and entwine in sometimes dreamy, sometimes muscular tones, while Ryan Sawyer plays some tight and edgy drum patterns.

When it's quiet, it's almost folksy, but you sense the pick-ups are always turned-up high, so that the boys can let rip at any moment.

The lugubrious vocals tell tales of regret and loss - but while the subject matter is often downbeat, there is a sense of energy and life about the music which lifts you up.

This intriguing album - just 36 minutes long - gets better each time you hear it. Different songs force their way into your mind. My current favourites are the almost breezy Hairdo - a rare light-hearted sense of fun here from the Firs; Lookout, with its sort of late-60s blue rock feel; and Loveless, with its Revolver-era Beatles guitar work.

Overall, perhaps the tone is a little dour but Tall Firs serve up enough surprises on this short album to keep you going back for further helpings.

The album is released on March 31.