‘Breaking Ballets’ is the follow up to Garret Moore‘s debut ‘Aggy’s Rest’ which was released on Toast Office Records in 2011. While ‘Aggy’s Rest’ was an eight track acoustic based, ‘Breaking Ballets’ sees Moore delve into percussion and amplification.
The three track E.P. opens with ‘JUST!’, which immediately grabs attention with the ferocity of its drum/percussion intro. The rhythm sucks you into the track and is joined by guitar and vocals. The track features gorgeous musical breaks and the vocals possess just the right amount of effect, if anything they could be a bit louder. ‘JUST!’ does more than enough to get you to listen to the rest of the EP.
‘Breathing Hard on Thin Air’ immediately reminds your scribe on the production on Sophie B Hawkins’ The Darkest Childe from the album Timbre. Layers of percussion, pips, squeaks and breaths provide a great info for the track, which wouldn’t be far away from Little Comets, a ska reggae indie combo. This features a memorable refrain and guitar hook and makes you want to dance. Like this a lot.
The title track comes last on the EP and opens with a dramatic atmospheric style. Cleverly, everything drops to leave Moore’s lone vocals before the instrumentation kicks in. This is very much in the indie rock category built around piano, there’s something about Moore’s vocals that are reminiscent of Dan Broeckner from Handsome Furs, vocals providing a happy dischord with the instrumentation, a throwback to a folk style perhaps.
This is a good step from Moore’s previous releases and is a good indication of him as an electric artist. The EP features interesting tracks with good production and song writing ability. I’d like to hear more.
Breaking Ballets EP is available from Bandcamp as a free download below.