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It's two years since Vancouver quintet The Organ decided to call it a day, and this posthumous EP release ties up the loose ends and switches out the light with six previously unavailable songs.
In their short tenure - just one album all told - the all-girl outfit made quite a name for themselves, their sound characterised by the light melancholia of Katie Sketch's vocals, supported by intricate guitar work and slow moving Hammond organ chords.
The songs on Thief mark the cut-off in progress on follow-up to debut album Grab That Gun, on which the band were working in 2006. Showing that musicians can after all get through a group split, they briefly reacquainted themselves to commit the six tracks to disc in 2007.
Their prime characteristics remain on this collection of offcuts, revealed in stripped back studio sound. As with the group's previous material, initial listens are largely unremarkable save for the purity of Sketch's voice plus a couple of curious lyrics, with the guitars, at times too Smiths or Cure-derived, complemented by the stately Hammond.
Then slowly but surely, things begin to change. The lyrics take hold. What is Sketch singing about in Even In The Night? The organ itself starts to take on a timeless quality that underpins their musings. The guitars take on an elegance that fits hand in glove with the vocal. And the drums, unobtrusive in their use, drop away completely for a moving Don't Be Angry.
The subtle ability of their music to uplift also comes through. Even In The Night tells a strange tale, with Sketch's initially haughty delivery giving way to endearing vulnerability. As she sings how "when you hit your head on the table that's when I called it a night", she's left almost pleading for reassurance by the close, singing "tell me it's going to be alright". Then in Fire In The Ocean, she's betraying a love of the Vancouver coastline, asking wistfully "who will love me like the ocean does?"
The quicker songs are perhaps less revealing emotionally and are cold at times, but bring with them a punchier sound. Oh What A Feeling also reveals humourous slights, Sketch floating up to the ceiling as she gets the strangest feeling.
Not perhaps the best place to start if you're looking for an introduction to The Organ, then - but a substantial bonus if you're a fan. The six songs may only run to seventeen minutes, but for the devoted it will be a case of quality overriding quantity.
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