EP Review :: Pillow Talk - What We Should Have Said

Pillow Talk

What We Should Have Said

March 3 2015 (Animal Style Records)

8.5/10

Words: Linn Branson

The Memphis five-piece Pillow Talk follow their assured self-released debut EP of last year, 'Recreational Feelings', with this second five-track work, which finds them not just changing musical track somewhat in moving away from their fuzzy punk sound, but doing so with seemingly consummate ease. And, my, oh my, does it work.

'What We Should Have Said' is filled with some quite incandescent moments, and plenty of stirring instrumentation; each track in its own way often transcending boundaries both lyrically and musically in intensity and passion, drawing on influences from the likes of  The Smiths, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure. What they have ultimately achieved is a work of bliss to both ears and senses - even if the EP's subject matter revolves around the theme of relationships / friendships of one kind or another and, at times, the difficulties they create when they turn sour.

Opening track 'Bend' is a sub two minute spacey instrumental way in to 'Make You Real', the first song written fir their second EP.  Described by vocalist/lyricist Josh Cannon as about "looking back and wondering what went wrong, and how things would have gone had you not held your tongue", he wends raspy vocals around a shimmering guitar sonic space.

'Heaven Sent' arrives wrapped in ambient emo multi-layers. The lyrics "you're still my brother, heaven sent" relate to a best buddy of Cannon who going through a hard time, during which the two pals had a minor falling out: it was written, he has said, in one take, "but I wrestled with the lyrics a lot."

First single cut 'Room' resonates and glistens in all its layered spaces that sit between bleak Smiths sombre and an emo shoegaze soundscape. Struck through with understated honey-dripping-like guitars, it is Cannon’s vocals uttering the hypnotic chorus lyrics on repeat that make for the killer: “If everyone is just the same / then I am no exception / There’s room for two in my bed / always room for you in my head.”

The expansive six-minute MBV indebted closer 'Escape Me', may arguably be the highlight, fielding little fizzles of emotion upon listening to it. The interplay between the synched drums, echoing guitars and Cannon's low in the mix expressive vocal as they all wrap around the melody, are rich and captivating; Sam Leathers' one-two drum beat like a persistent thump at your conscience over the last minute, lends a wholly inspired flavour as the track draws out its final notes with seconds of "tones".

If, as guitarist Calvin Lauber has suggested, this is now the musical path they intend to follow in future - “delving into lush soundscapes, modulated ambient guitar sounds, and catchy vocal melodies" - they are unlikely to find any complaints on that score judging by this EP.