Running Club: Beach Glass (digital outlets)

The duo who are Running Club quickly come up for attention because of who they are and what they've done so far: they are Steve Reay (of the sonically dense Subliminals, the dark but short-lived Americana band The Haints of Dean Hall) and artistic polymath Blair Parkes (All Fall Down, The Letter 5, Creeley and others, plus solo projects).

This debut album is a fascinating distillation of many of the elements from their previous lives but modified by their mutual association.

So a small measure of the Subliminals' rolling density and driving rhythms inform tracks like Some Distance and Better Times but skew more towards the melodic and measured; the opener Branches Sway seduces you in as a dreamy ballad; Cooking Book is a slightly brittle but tuneful swathe of dialed-down power pop with rough edges and a relentless beat . . .

Picture Impossible is a darkly beautiful, downbeat and vaguely uneasy ballad; Start Again is a clever construction of quiet Vs urgent alt.pop which surges gently on the lines “I don't wanna expect what happens next” . . .

Nine songs in a little over 20 minutes indicates the intelligent economy at work here also, and touches of South Island psychedelia which spins off from 1966 British guitar pop.

Let's hope this pairing lasts longer than some of these individuals' previous projects, it's at an intersection of a number of appealing styles which are all promising and warrant Running Club exploring further.

It's also a pity this interesting debut album and the excellent single Easily aren't on vinyl (with lyrics) because the covers on each are framable.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here