If you've been tuning in here for a while, you'll know we've been championing Yorkshire's GALITZA for quite a while, and have been going into raptures about several of the songs featured on this EP since the arse end of last summer.
So, needless to say the long-awaited "Laugh Like A Horse EP" is more than enough reason to set the corks popping around here now that she's finally launched and heading down the slipway.
The EP roars into life via the confident sweep of "You Must Be The Devil", a tune that wraps love, regret and betrayal of the blackest hue into one huge emotional snowball and rolls it full tilt down the nearest hill with that beautiful melancholic keyboard refrain still intact all the way to the bottom.
"Stalker" is the other one featured here that we've got to know and be hassled by on the way home, but familiarity breeds anything but contempt here, as its' seductively lit musical backdrop of heartbeat bass and incongruously jangling guitars set the scene beautifully for Emma Bob's deceptively sweet, shivers-down-the-spine vocals.
"Rattle Me" and "Empty Hands" are every bit their sonic equals, though. The former features some deliciously tense harmonies offset by more infectious chromatic guitar work, though the track's all the more effective for refusing to let the psychosis full rein until the tempestuous final coda. If anything, however, this hack's fave is "Empty Hands": this time buzzing off Stevie Gonzales' nicely cynical vocals before shouldering its' way into that magic: "You wouldn't know what to do if it jumped up and bit you" chorus, and finally signing off via the surprising accapella bit.
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"Laugh Like A Horse" waves goodbye with "White Horses". In this incarnation, it's not dissimilar to the kind of suave pop Cinerama have been responsible for of late; lighter and (sorry) more cinematic in its' execution. Even though you feel there's a collective tongue in cheek here, it's still a perfectly cool way to ride off into the reddening sunset.
Although they're not as openly deranged as their equally ace labelmates SCARAMANGA SIX, this Yorkshire crew have perfected their own brand of subtle seduction, with the razor blades only barely secreted beneath the sophisticated surface. Their press release suggests one of them makes films about little girls being electrocuted. This we can believe, as GALITZA are clearly capable of hotwiring the most stubborn of hearts in far greater numbers in the future.
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