Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant EP

Expectancy will always spoil a party, as they say. Hype will just as often bury a band and embarrass gushing music writers as it will justly sum up the exciting nature of great new music.

The deciding factor is, of course, whether or not such an overtly approved outfit are any good. In the case of Seattle-based Fleet Foxes, ‘the most talked about band at this year’s SXSW’, it just so happens that the music in question is every bit as good as it’s made out to be.

The Sun Giant EP, an aperitif for an album forthcoming in just a few short weeks, is epic on an intimate scale. Touches of gospel, motown and bohemian pop melodies – all strung together with the resonance of a sombre western soundtrack – bear the hallmarks of enduringly beautiful music.

Throughout the five tracks on display here, sandstorm harmonies sweep past folk-like guitar structures, recalling the more haunting moments of Simon & Garfunkel via a slightly Shins-esque relevancy.

Its five tracks are all too brief and yet more than enough to whet the appetite for a band with such timeless potential. After all, a mere two minutes of the devastatingly beautiful English House is more than enough to simmer you gently until the LP arrives.