Small Town Boredom – For Only the Chosen Will Love EP

Small Town Boredom
For Only the Chosen Will Love EP

Scotland’s Small Town Boredom is two people: Fraser McGowan and Colin Morrison. Recording their music in a cramped attic apartment, the musicians somehow convey a deep-seeded emotional power to these six melancholy and moody songs. With lush production and hushed vocals that lend the songs a stark yet textured feel, each track is powerful in its quiet, intense in its solemnity.

“I Live Here Alone, Behind the Churchyard” starts things off quietly but impressively. Light guitar and keyboards provide the melancholy and dreamy feel of the album, and the vocals are sung in a hushed, moody manner that feels like it could be played in a churchyard. It leads into perhaps the most impressive song here, the short but sweet instrumental “To Watch the Blossom Fall.” With nearly perfect acoustic guitar, it’s a perfect interlude.

Things take a more intense feel on the drifting “Sorry (for the Sitting Room).” While still moving at a slow and introspective pace, the lyrics and instrumentation add greater emphasis to the song, as they sing: “You can go anywhere in your mind / but how much can you take? / Have you ever touched the hand of God? / Do you believe in fate?” The drums on the seven-minute “Leaving Priesthill” give the song an electronic feel, and keyboard atmospherics mix with the guitars for perhaps the most unique song on the album. Instrumentation is most important on this track, even as it manages to convey the same amount of stark moodiness of the rest of the release. The vocals don’t even come in until about six minutes, but they’re hardly missed. “The Broken Hearts of Falkirk” end things even more moody, as the lyrics “Feed me these bitter pills / for I don’t want to sleep” come in over bare guitar, mixed so every brush of the strings is heard.

KEEP Recordings develops unique and homemade packaging for every release, and Small Town Boredom’s EP may be my favorite yet. The band took 50 unique polaroids – a different one for each CD – and signed the back, and the picture shows through a circle in the front of the album, making each cover different. And the three-inch CD and packaging comes in a hand-sewn folder. This is Small Town Boredom’s third release, and it’s wonderful – yet possibly depressing – stuff.