Small Talk
Small Talk is the debut EP from Perth two-piece, Dead Owls. From your faithful correspondent’s perspective, they’re on a hiding to nothing on two fronts. Their name contains the words ‘Dead’ and ‘Owls’ and they also don’t have a bass player. Not to worry, however, as this a nice chunk of indie rock, with a power-pop slant.
The EP’s five songs are well crafted, well played and expertly recorded by the ever dependable Dave Parkin at his Blackbird studio. Take the opening track, Only Child, which builds up to a big pay-off and has an almost epic quality despite only being two-and-a-half minutes long. That kind of taut, economical songwriting is a valuable asset to a young band. Sure, there’s only five songs, but there are no missteps. The tunes cater to the band’s musical strengths, namely the interplay between the guitar and the drums, and while most bands of this ilk suffer from having a large hole in their sound where the bass guitar should be, its absence is hardly noticeable on record.
This is a pretty great sounding first release. Good luck to ‘em.
SAM SCHERR
