Three EPs: Seb Zukini, Little Quirks and Fernandhell

Another week with three EPs, well, more mini albums. Three acts from all over the world are presented to you, all with their own take on popular music. Enjoy!

The Devil You Know. Seb Zukini

Seb Zukini released two singles this year and now is ready to release its first EP. The promise made by the singles is totally fulfilled. The Devil You Know is filled with energetic rock songs that translate themselves easily and comfortably in songs that please the ears. The band members have obviously listened closely to a lot of rock music from the past. This legacy is taken forward with five songs on the EP. Singer Sebastiaan Kusters has this nice rough edge to his voice, just like the best grunge bands' singers had. He makes the songs sound tougher. In one song making the song sound rougher with his voice (e.g. 'Mirror'), in another matching it perfectly ('Reap What You Sow').

The band from Emmen ("I want to see the seaside .... we don't have that where I'm from") plays together since 2021. That year was well used. The five songs show a lot of promise. Seb Zukini not only rocks. It pays a lot of attention to the melody and arrangements. The fact that one of the guitarists, Herman Klompmakers, also plays keyboards certainly helps here, as it widens the scope of the band's music.

Where influences are concerned a band like Creed comes to mind, mixed with Britpop flair of the Oasis kind. The result is a hybrid album combining the U.S. with the U.K. with the former winning on points. This is mostly the result of Kusters' voice.

There are five songs on The Devil You Know. At the end I would have loved to have the chance to hear more. In short, this EP does a lot of things right.

Call To Unknowns. Little Quirks

From Emmen to the central coast of New South Wales is almost as far as one can go on this globe. Little Quirks is a trio from Australia, releasing its mini album Call To Unknowns. The sisters Abbey and Amy Toole and their cousin Jaymi started singing and playing together from a very young age and slowly but surely it went from fun to a career (and hopefully still a lot of fun).

Musically Little Quirks can be found in the Mumford and Sons or Of Monsters And Men folk segment. In other words songs with a lot of positive energy, pop mixed with folk and a high singalong factor.

The clear voices of the three singers are the first feature that stands out. They blend well but also sound extremely positive and above all pleasant. The harmonies are an important feature of Little Quirks' sound.

The music is to a certain extent formalistic. Each song starts subdued with not much more than one or more voices. At some point the full band kicks in, lifting the song up to another level. Little Quirks manages to do just that in each song, without creating a negative effect to its music. In other words, the band knows exactly what it is doing and where its strengths lie.

The production and mix give Call To Unknowns a clear sound. The voices are number one. They are mixed upfront and very clearly heard. Behind the voices the instruments can all be clearly heard as well. The mix is spacious in that sense. Each instrument has the room it needs to be heard and distinguish itself from the others. Just listen to 'Someone To Hold' and you will hear it perfectly.

No, this is a not a unique mini album. Many have been made in this style over the past decades. A huge difference is that I did not really like a lot of them (in their entirety). Call To Unknowns agrees with me from beginning to end. Little Quirks may be a band to keep a tab on.

And The Gatten Army. Fernandhell

A new name, an old hand. Livio Montarese played in The Peawees for a long time. In the pandemic he found himself at home in La Spezia with his cats and his guitar. On this five song album the world hears the result of this period of isolation. The album is filled with a solid form of rock. Like Rum Bar Records artists like Nat Freedberg and J. Prosac he gives it everything he's got, as if his career is just starting, with a voice belying that impression immediately. The love for playing music, against all odds, is what shines through. The EP would fit Rum Bar's bill easily.

Fernandhell played all the instruments himself. With one exception. The lead guitar is played by Paul (no last name) and P. Billygoat on 'Mardi Gras'. Montarese obviously gets his way around each instrument.

Of the three mini albums here And The Gatten Army is the most straightforward. Fernandhell is not beating around the bush for one second. His songs go forward without hesitation. Like Medieval armies going into battle, making as much noise as possible to drown out the fear when they charge each other. In other words, there's not much room for subtleties and niceties. All five songs speak for themselves and don't need anything else to work. And The Gatten Army rocks and that's enough.

Wout de Natris