Islet: Eyelet (Fire/Southbound)

Islet out of Wales sound like an interesting couple of groups, maybe even a few.

The openers here are languid dream-pop fronted by singer Emma Thomas but of little particular interest because they don't add much to that weightless idiom other than perhaps a slightly more chilly ambience through the repetition of the loops, although the seven minute Geese which closes the first third of this 45 minute album shifts its ground from ethereal vocals to clicking beats and suggests a new direction.

And that happens in the middle third after the upbeat pop of Sgwylfa Rock and then we are off into the drum machine/tabla sound of the driving Radel 10 which is punchy psychedelectronica and the discodelics of the poppy Clouds.

Then there's the final third which opens with the angular Florist with heavily quivered vocals by Mark Thomas which is weirdly like early Roxy Music-meets-Mazzy Star and then the album further devolves down through the ghostly Moon (Emma again amidst a massive soundscape of synths), the almost holy ambience of the synths and vocals on the glitch-pop ballad No Host and the closer Gyratory Circus which touches elements of what has preceded it.

This is an unusual patchwork of sounds and styles across its often intense running time, but chances are if you are engaged by one facet you might not warm to another.

Two good and different EPs herein?

You can hear this album on Spotify here.