Tree bursts in snow

"Given its strong pockets of similarly inspired bands, "Scottish Indie" is a genre of its own, though it's been through various mutations ... Nowadays it's emotion-soaked widescreen melancholia, spearheaded by My Latest Novel, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad and last, but not least, Admiral Fallow. Not least because the Glaswegian quintet are the scene's most thoughtful brand of emo-scaping, more concerned with simmering space and dynamics than outright brow-beating. The opening title(ish) track surges and slow-burns like prime Elbow; Guy Garvey is a Fallow fan, and there's indeed something Garvey-like about singer-guitarist Louis Abbott. But it's still smaller-scale, tense, and all the better for its restraint. Any band featuring clarinet and flute won't be climbing the barricades any time soon, and flautist Sarah Hayes' prominent backing vocals says even more about the inbuilt delicacy ... Of all present Scots Indie torchbearers, Frightened Rabbit are the mostirresistible;but Admiral Fallow are close behind. Hearts might well burst under prolonged exposure to this record".

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