Review: The Billy Bates EP

Billy Bates self-titled, self-released, debut EP is available now for those with a piqued interest in the deeper side of music. The Glaswegian’s intelligent music fuses middle-eastern guitar scales with highly sensitive vocals, which on opener Rawnda are quickly reminiscent of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s aerial improvs, and help make the serene raga a spellbinding introduction to Bates’ unique style.

Second track Beauty Crawls approaches something closer to pop phrasing, and is a beautiful piece which sounds like a mature Radiohead songwriting with Jeff Buckley. Moon over Alakazar finishes the EP by picking up where Rwanda left off, only this time with Bates taking moody virtuosic sprawls across the guitar, while his haunted vocal howls and contracts.

Bates’ fantastic debut begs for a full-length release, and deserves to make label bosses start jumping through hoops.

Links:

Billy Bates on Myspace
Live Video of Billy performing ‘God is Gone‘ at Dailymotion.

Posted in Music

Tags: billy bates, buckley, Music, Scotland

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