BRILLIANT MIND -BLYTH

For the past two years, Brilliant Mind have been producing a string of crafted, underrated songs but it is with the forthcoming EP "Blyth," that they have really hit their creative stride, making them potential candidates for that "new favourite band," label. For new listeners, its worth going back through the bands archives - their most "pop" and accessible moment is perhaps the wonderfully written "Our Osprey," - but Blyth gives a perfect picture of what Brilliant Mind represent. The title track is a sprawling epic which indicates a refreshing change for young bands - music unafraid to take its time to crawl into the listener's mindset. Influenced by a "creeping sense of dissatisfaction," this slow burn effect permeates their music.

Elsewhere on "Blyth," moments of lyrical reflection elevate the songs into pure beauty territory. "The Room Upstairs," is, for me, the key moment of this. The perfectly nuanced, understated minor chords give the lyrics space for attention - frontman Calum Lynn is a literature student and it shows, the ghost of TS Eliot lurking in the shadows of the waste land-esque landscapes he created, whilst also using the dramatic monologue form to reveal the stages of this affecting story, Calum's voice sounding ready to gently break throughout. Every hair on the back of my neck stood up upon listening.

Calum's poetic talent, however, is not to take anything away from the bands musical talent. Sometimes, when brilliant guitar playing is not obviously demonstrative, it is not regarded with the reverence it, but the minor, intricate work on this set of songs is noteworthy. On "Blyth"'s "Two Lies," and their earlier song "Leave Your Friends Behind," in particular, there are shades of some of Johnny Marr's finest moments on "Hatful of Hollow," but that's the closest I came to making any comparisons. Brilliant Mind are very much their own band, who very much know their own minds. They name their influences as the short films of Mike Leigh, industrial estates, and hospital car parks, rather than any other bands, and this shows. In fact, I've learnt over the past few days that the best way to appreciate Brilliant Mind is to listen to them whilst taking a derive around my industrial, desolate estate, as it gains a whole new kind of beauty in the process.

Brilliant Mind are, in summary, the soundtrack to kitchen sink films not yet written. They seem capable of doing one of the hardest things for an artist to do - remain realist whilst helping the listener to see the world around them in a whole new way.

Amy Britton

http://brilliantmind.tumblr.com/