EP: Ezekiel Doo - 'The Bastard Angel Tapes'

Lo-fi Brighton band Ezekiel Doo seem to have a talent for writing songs that a) have great titles, and b) sweep us away on a little black cloud of grungy lullabies. Their latest EP The Bastard Angel Tapes is another example of said abilities, and it’s essential listening for anyone who lives for angsty, spaced-out garage rock.

The excellently named ‘Wrathematics’ opens the EP with strung out guitars and moody bass lines which loop around hazy, muffled vocals. It’s the ideal tune to stare at ceilings to on a hungover Sunday, and following track ‘Trash Humpers’ is cut from the same cloth. There’s something hypnotic about Ezekiel Doo’s slow, garage-rock spirals; and you’ll still be swirling in them by the time ‘The Yuppie Nuremberg Defence’ kicks in.

The brief, woozy, and reassuringly juvenile ‘Billy’s Got a Big Head’ precedes the equally as brief ‘Night Of The Living Airhead II’ and ‘Worthless, Wizardly’. All three interludes have the potential to be fleshed out, full-length angsty anthems, but like the snippets of recorded conversation between tracks; their brevity adds a raw charm to the EP.

The off-kilter, sedated sounds on the penultimate ‘Twitcher TV (Weeder)’ are some of the strongest on the recording, and could comfortably soundtrack an introspective ‘coming of age’ piece of cinema. ‘Dr. Stan’s Beer Plan’ closes the EP in a blur of reverb and more of Ezekiel Doo’s trademark hazy riffs. The Bastard Angel Tapes is a slow-burning, sultry sixteen minutes of stoner rock that will simultaneously sedate and elevate your senses. Our only complaint is that it doesn’t last longer. Listen to the EP in full below.