Stalin’s Street Party – Gutter Moss Green EP

On a seemingly ‘nothing’ night out last summer, me and a few friends found ourselves wandering off the beaten track to bars, clubs and venues unknown, desperately trying to create a ‘something’ night. Reaching the dreaded ‘if the next place is a shit tip shall we just cut our losses and call it a night?’ point, we forced ourselves one more drink and began to leave as the band in the corner, finished with their prep, took to the stage and rumbled into their first song. We performed a swift U-turn as they howled into their new track at the time, ‘Grumble Foul‘, and Stalin’s Street Party have lived on my iPod ever since.

Their latest EP Gutter Moss Green’ sees the Cardiff based quartet return with five new songs to feast upon. The band kick things off with an eerie, orchestral introduction track that wouldn’t be out of place on an album by The xx – I’d have personally liked another full track (complete with vocals), but I guess that’s just a case of preference. ‘Moral Out’ purrs with distant vocals and a bass line that, for want of a better word, can only be described as funky as hell. My only qualm with this track is that it sounds too polished – I felt the EP would benefit from a stripped down, raw version of this one. But again, different folks and all that.

That infectious bass returns for ‘Northern Gutters’, with vocals that could easily be mistaken for a mature Jake Bugg, before fading into an instrumental part that rolls in to ‘Street Rat‘. Easily the highlight for me, ‘Street Rat‘ boasts a contagious chorus and almost descends in to a chant to the lyrics “Oh Street Rat, you’re rattling my bones/Oh Street Rat, you’re gnawing at my toes” before arriving at an instrumental that sounds like it’s been pulled straight from a dance track. Finally we reach the title piece ‘Gutter Moss Green’; similar in style and sound to ‘Street Rat’, this provides us with another catchy hook and more chant like singing, leaving things on a high note.

Overall, Gutter Moss Green is a thoroughly enjoyable listen from start to finish and, nit-picking aside, my only issue is that it draws to a close too soon – my only solace is that we’re (hopefully) one step closer to a fully fledged LP for me to sink my teeth in to.