genre as their boundary-free sound busts conventions like the musical equivalent of breaking the fourth wall. Released late in 2010, the band’s debut EP ‘Clutter’ earned breathless comparisons with artists as diverse as the Cocteau Twins, Portishead, Blue Nile, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Radiohead. Such eclectism reflected the band’s inherent ability to capture a style immediately recognisable, yet in a realm of its own. The band’s freewheeling direction sees them continue to explore new terrain with their debut album ‘The Proximity Effect’. Their eclecticism continues where ‘Clutter’ left off, as they pursue fragile folk beauty (‘Fingertips’), flourishes of ethereal eeriness with vocalist Laura Donnelly’s tender vocals hanging in the ether like the voice of an imaginary friend (‘Solstice’) and a gloriously atmospheric clash of sinister electronica and enticing pop hooks on ‘More Than You.’ The audacious near instrumental ‘Onion Machine’ provides a mid-album highlight as it employs a retro-futuristic synth riff, an emotive layer of cello, stabs of grinding guitar and an angular time signature.