Sketches

'Epic, mainstream and with lovely harmonies' - Marsha Shandur

-This lot are awfully difficult to describe, which is only a good
thing. Some of their stuff is urgent, groovy indie, some of it is
rolling, big, tuneful but angry music, and some of it, creeping,
atmospheric, almost sound scapey emotional indie. The singer's voice is really strong and has a lush tendency to go all high halfway through word, which makes something drop in my gut when I listen.
Some bands get swamped by this venue, but I think Sketches will
benefit from how big the room is; I imagine they're the sort of band who are better enjoyed the bigger the venue.
- Marsha Shandur

’Sketches area melodic indie four piece from Leeds. Combining gentle vocals and tight, catchy riffs, they are both uplifting and dark at times. Their first track is urgent with an exposed vocal, alternating a stripped back sound with heavy guitar and rich bass sections. A mix of guttural, dense rock n’ roll, velvet guitar solos and sophisticated drums. Very listenable and moving. Track two has a haunting, dark, sonorous intro that develops into an epic, overwhelming guitar sound that floods over you and picks you up in the swell of it. Inter-dispersed with quieter moments. ‘Dear Heart’ is wrenching and anthemic, up-lifting and leaden at the same time. There’s something more sparkly in track three, which distends into a melancholic ballad. Even the slow tracks on this EP move well and have a smooth seductiveness to them. Strong, swaggering guitar solos guide this track yet the virtuosity of this doesn’t overtake the song. They can be defined as an indie band by their song writing but lack the scattered rhythms and fragmented percussion of many bands in this genre-they have a sound that is all their own. Occasionally I wonder if I can hear the influence of Incubus in them. ‘All We Deserve’ combines rumbly rhythms and tunes and is on the whole something a bit more angsty and discordant. With powerful, passionate vocals it relies on a mix of dark and energetic passages driven by the drum rhythm, whilst the last track ‘Inside’ is soft and builds slowly. Distant and lingering in feel, it sounds lush and delicate, ending the EP on a tender note.
- NoTitle Magazine