We Were Promised Jetpacks: The Last Place You''ll Look

A strong contender for the Top Ten Albums of 2009 list was These Four Walls, an album by scottish outfit We Were Promised Jetpacks. This band first came to my attention via a FatCat Records sampler CD that came free with some now-long-forgotten music magazine^[1] back in 2008. It was a great compilation featuring, amongst many others, act such as fey folk legend Vashti Bunyan, contemporary classicist Max Richter and EbM favourites Frightened Rabbit; a fine exemplar of the great roster of acts that FatCat have assembled. Hidden in the depths of this compilation was a track by We Were Promised Jetpacks called, according to the sleeve notes, Tiny Little Voices. This scratchy, furious little song later surfaced as Quiet Little Voices on the band's 2009 debut LP, as well as getting a release as a single, and it's quite frankly marvellous. The rest of These Four Walls was also excellent and fast became a regular feature on my stereo.

But this is not a review of that LP.

Released on the 12th of April this year, The Last Place You'll Look is a new limited-run EP by the band. It features two songs from the LP (Short Bursts and This Is My House, This Is My Home), alongside three new tracks. The whole of this EP has a markedly different tone to the album; where the LP was furious and thundering this release is more measured and contemplative. That's not to say for one minute that this EP pulls it's punches - it can slog it out with the best of them - but it's certainly softer than it's big brother, and I'm still undecided as the whether or not this is a good thing...

These Four Walls felt like a spontaneous outpouring of emotion; the sheer momentum of the record was palpable, as if the band were channeling some demonic vision. And it was that forcefulness, that clarity of vision that made the album such a favourite of mine. While this new EP seems more willing to dwell on the softer side of things (it has piano and strings, for heaven's sake) it doesn't sound like the band have added a new dynamic to their sound, it sounds like they've shifted down a gear. It's hard not to compare the album and EP versions of This Is My House..., for instance, and not feel that the EP is just a bit too slow, just a bit too soft. The euphoric highs of the LP are not as evident on this new record.

It's not all bad news, however. This is a very good record, and a thoroughly engrossing twenty minutes of music. Whilst on one hand it's less emphatic and energetic than the album, on the other it's a considerably more mature sounding record. As well as being simply a rewarding listen, the change in textures also bodes well for the band's future efforts; they're clearly not just a one trick pony, and I await their next release with much anticipation.

Long story short: The Last Place You'll Look is an excellent EP, and a must-listen for any fans of We Were Promised Jetpacks. However, it doesn't reach the lofty pinnacles of their album, so if you're new to the band I'd suggest you make this EP the second place you look; hunt down the album first, then view this record as a stirling companion piece.