Repeater – Golden Ships EP
Footnote, or swansong ? One can only hope that the answer is neither. Almost two years since Repeater gave us We Walk From Safety , their Kickstarter funded, post-punk masterpiece, they return with this EP collection, effectively marking the final recordings of the old Repeater line-up. Safe to say, Golden Ships is beautiful. Stately and elegant, its four songs (plus reprise) are bathed in a sheen of regret and melancholy. The rage evident across We Walk From Safety is almost totally absented from this EP. Steve Krolikowski keeps his ascorbic miracle of a voice under lock and key leaving this collection feeling like a lament.
Keys and drums dominate the opening (title) track but the whole EP is airy and stripped down. Space infuses every piece here. Krolikowski’s vocal floats over the landscape like a lost phantom wandering a fragmenting world, Repeaters world. Is this the sound of a band parting, or coming apart? Whichever, it is highly effective, graceful yet somehow unreachable.
When soulless efforts by the likes of Editors and Killers sell bucketloads and a truly special band such as Repeater remains unsigned, forced to take difficult career decisions, there is something wrong with the world. Well, we know that already. We’ve always known that. Maybe that’s why we gravitate towards alternative and indie rock? The music of Repeater is moving and real . It means something to me about my life and in Steve Krolikowski we have a modern day lyricist to rival the likes of Ian Curtis , Morrissey or Robert Smith . So let’s cherish this. Golden Ships is available as a name your price download so pick it up without further delay. Show Repeater how much they matter.
~Footnote.~
~We Walk From Safety was my pick as album of the year, 2011. See my review via the link below.~