2020 has borne some truly stunning albums, but it’s also proven that the EP format is well worthy of some of the year’s music highlights. The deft skill involved in packing an EP with as much emotion, excitement, and sonic euphoria as albums get to spread over ten or eleven tracks hasn’t gone unnoticed – here’s our top picks.
12. Easy Life – Junk Food
Slick grooves and straight-from-the-heart songwriting are Easy Life’s calling cards, and there’s an abundance of both on their Junk Food EP. They neatly weave their kitchen sink poetics through the metaphors of 7 Magpies and Dead Celebrities, and sink into vulnerability on the dreaming melancholia of Spiders and the intimacy of Sangria (the latter bolstered by the stunning vocals of Arlo Parks). There’s plenty of heart, but there’s also plenty of effortless bops – piano jam LS6 is the EP’s most laidback moment, but the moodier part (Nice Guys, Earth) are just as cool.
11. Walt Disco – Young Hard and Handsome
Attitude, drama, and total unrelenting power: look no further than Walt Disco’s explosive Young Hard and Handsome. Hey, Boy (You’re One Of Us) throws you in with just a choral intro to prepare yourself, somehow classic and utterly cutting edge with it’s pounding saw bass and careening vocal line. The subsequent tracks may not be as obviously intense, but the dark disco of Cut Your Hair, the swirling I’m What You Want, and the dreamy magic of closer Heather seamlessly fill out YHAH into a polished-up diamond of an EP.
10. Halloweens – Maserati Anxiety Designed
Halloweens charmed and enchanted us with their debut album, but we were lucky enough to get a follow-up EP this year as well. Their airy songwriting is intact; the delicate lyricism of every track, not to mention some of the most subtly effervescent rhymes ever, marks these songs out as quintessential Halloweens. Sonically, Halloweens graduated between Morning Kiss At The Acropolis and Maserati Anxiety Designed onto something just a fraction moodier, but just as classic.
9. Strange Bones – Blitz Pt. II
At only three tracks long, Blitz Pt. II is at the shorter end of the EP spectrum, but make no mistake: Strange Bones know how to jam more adrenaline than you can fathom into that dangerously small package. Huge, magnetic, and totally riveting, Strange Bones explode through genre boundaries to make their unique brand of jungle-punk as fierce as it’s ever been on the nine-minute onslaught that is Blitz Pt. II.
8. T Truman – Born To Be Right
He’s the piano wizard persona of Timothy Lanham of indie giants The Vaccines, and he’s definitely magical. In the gaps between not just The Vaccines but fellow Phono faves Halloweens, T Truman found time to make the addictive Born To Be Right, and the reason it shines so bright is because it’s just pure fun. Jaunty chords, soaring choruses, shrewd and witty lyricism in spades, Born To Be Right is the sound of T Truman really just letting loose and making bops and rocking out, and it’s a delight to listen to.
7. Sundara Karma – Kill Me
Kill Me is the sound of Sundara Karma proving that they’re still masters of whatever they put their minds to. They set the tone with Kill Me, a track that could easily have featured on the radiant, mosh-pit-laden festival sets that accompanied the release of their debut album, with an injection of the space-pop that made up sophomore release Ulfilas’ Alphabet, that blossoms over the course of the EP. Yes, Sunny K can do huge choruses but they’re just as marvellous in the expansive, subversive soundscapes seen on Artifice and Lifelines, and they have even time to experiment with making auto-pop that out of context wouldn’t even be recognisable as Sundara Karma. They nail it all.
6. Calva Louise – POPURRÍ
Short, sharp, and sweet is the way to sum up Calva Louise’s three-track POPURRÍ EP. Somehow they’ve saturated the EP’s ten minute run time with equal parts swagger and savage sweetness, kicking electro beats and a rapid-fire bilingual avalanche of vocals intertwined with glowing melodies and hooks. Jess Allanic is a powerhouse, wrapping us absolutely around her finger from the very first beat of Camino, and she’s at maybe her most powerful in the driving, swirling ferocity of the EP’s title track.
5. Somebody’s Child – 20-Something
20-Something is THE EP the world needed to coast us through a summer without festivals. From the first second of the instantly-infectious TV Screens, it’s clear that Somebody’s Child is on his way to something big – his natural charisma, easygoing delivery, and delightful tunes are made for commanding a bouncing crowd. And it’s not just the bops he’s got down to a T, with 20-Something’s slower tracks just as powerful. Hold Me Like You Wanna is a woozy anthem, and EP closer We Could Start A War is evocative and simply huge.
4. Sea Girls – Under Exit Lights
Sea Girls actually did bring out a highly anticipated debut album this year, but before we even knew it was coming, they released the wonderful Under Exit Lights EP. It’s home to some of Sea Girls’ best songs: 2019’s festival anthems Violet and Closer are well-rivalled by new additions Why Won’t You Admit and Ready For More, while Timeless sneaks in at the end as possibly Sea Girls’ most gorgeous track yet. Under Exit Lights wins for its consistency – it’s all highlights.
3. The Calls – Fall Inside Again
Fall Inside Again is a delicious melee of classic jams and timely tunes. With its wonderfully britpop-esque tone it has all the nostalgia value of one of those records you’ve been spinning for years and can’t stop coming back to, but at the same time it’s resonant and essential for 2020. The Calls take their time over stretching out every necessary moment on the record, at their best on the sprawling late Stone Roses-esque A Change Is Gonna Come Around Here, luxuriating on every beat – the slow-burn grooves that precede it on the EP build towards the closer seamlessly. And, of course, any EP is made by its acoustic moment, and I Just Thought I’d Say is reflective, gorgeous, fluid, and breathtaking.
2. milk. – 1, The EP
This EP feels like the opening credits on a band that is, without a doubt, going places. It’s remarkably polished given that it’s milk.’s debut – they have their ambient sound nailed down, punctuated seamlessly with beats and hooks, ambitiously including multiple interludes on an EP that’s just six tracks long, and sonically watertight start to finish. It’s impossible to contain the 1975 comparisons, be it on the singalong tunes like Drama Queen, woozy opener A Little More, or the jangle of Treat Me, or even on the duo of trippy sound interludes Saudades 1 and 2. But look at The 1975 now – milk. are heading towards indie scene domination of the same nature, and 1, The EP is a statement of intent.
1. Phoebe Green – I Can’t Cry For You
Phoebe Green’s incredible I Can’t Cry For You EP is our number one of the year because she’s the voice of a generation without even trying, and she does it SO well. She’s been darting around the indie scene sharing the love and the tunes; she’s toured with the likes of Courteeners and Swim Deep and made a firm name for herself. She’s vulnerable, painfully, beautifully real, and unapologetic – and that’s just on lead single Reinvent! Zigzagging between a subtle, intimate talk-singing drawl and dark, electro-tinged vocals, Green paints her world so clearly within the confines of her EP with brushes made from grooving bass and swelling chords. I Can’t Cry For You is confessional, ambitious, and addictive to listen to.
