Four-piece indie rock outfit Profumo, from Newcastle, unveil their debut EP Brutalism. Signed to the North East label Forgotten City Records, the six-track works are of sweet shuffle-pop. Blossoming from 60s pop with elements of skiffle-beat, Profumo add a flare of folk into rock and roll. Through a certain simplicity, Profumo breeze a certain quirky cool.

Opener ‘Bright Young Things’ kicks the EP into a fierce charisma. ‘Well I’ve been keeping my enemies close I’ve been sleeping with them’ punches the vocals, with a frosty bite that snaps the ears into attention. Guitars dance in a shuffling-beat around a tale of resentment.

Things simmer down on ‘Breton Stripes’ with indie-adorable lyrics ‘my life is one bad hair-cut after another,’ Profumo draw a similarity to the likes of Belle and Sebastian. Pensive instrumentation meets peculiarly penned lyrics, with captivation that matches the likes of Stuart Murdoch.

‘Samantha’ sees the introduction of delicate keys amongst Profumo’s pirouetting guitars. With a particular fragility Profumo tell the tale of a man with a sinister side to his thought romance, ‘Samantha it’s not your heart he’s after’.

A nervous haste rattles ‘Scotswoods Diamonds’ forwards in a wielding sound as it reaches psychedelically entangling guitars and twinkles of percussion, which allure. Expanding into a wall of sound at it’s close; the track clashes intro organ keys to haunt the soul.

At their most folk, ‘On The Waterbed’ beholds a sweet simplicity as its lyrics float with the accompaniment of acoustic guitar. Yet it’s open is misleadingly calm, as the song clamors into a rise of a wash of sweeping rings of guitar and a clatter of drums.

As an eclectic release, Brutalism sits as an impressive debut EP. Profumo not only create a fascinatingly stylised sound, but also prove themselves as fantastic storytellers, with their lyrics taking us on short illustrated journeys. “I don’t really subscribe to the idea that people have to make music that’s inspired by their own personal experiences,” states frontman Jack Bates, “the exciting thing about writing for me is that songs can be like short stories or one-act plays and you basically get a chance to direct them.”

Brutalism is out on July 7th via Forgotten City Records

@EmSchofield94