‘To, The Bottom Of The Sea’ is the debut release from a seriously talented Norwich duo. Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Dani and Doug – aka Alloy Ark – perform live will go out and buy a copy of this EP on the merit of the show, but actually, this recorded sound is quite different from both early demo recordings and the live sound of the twosome.

Released on the notoriously poppy NRONE Records, it’s not surprising that Alloy Ark’s music has taken an altogether more mainstream and produced vibe. At first I wasn’t sure about it, but the more I listened, the more it won me over. Resurrections of the band’s earliest rough demos include the beautiful ‘Columbian Coffee’ as well as ‘Sailor Song’ and ‘Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre’. But by the far the standout track on this release is ‘The Owl and The Wolf’, produced by the fantastic Kevin Tuffy. The song has a real genuine quality about it which is, to be frank, downright admirable.

At just 13 minutes long, this 5-track EP (4 tracks really, because the final track is a very quiet second version of ‘Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre’ in French, which I assume must have been recorded live), the one major fault here is the length. With other independent artists releasing 5 or 6 track EPs that measure forty or fifty minutes in length, it’s surprising that the label hasn’t worked with Alloy Ark to lengthen and expand the talent shown in these 2-3 minute songs.

‘To, The Bottom Of The Sea’ serves as a good introduction to Alloy Ark and their music, and I look forward to seeing a fuller, more developed release from them in the future. This duo are truly unlike anything else out there at the moment – it’s worth checking out this EP on that basis, and certainly when it’ll only take you 13 minutes!