Milk., 1, The EP
Self-release
Milk. If your mind jumps straight to the 1975 B-side, never fear – your expectations will be exceeded by Milk., the Dublin four-piece. They’ve got atmosphere in spades, bop quality saturating their debut EP 1, The EP from start to finish, and exactly the wavy indie-pop vibes that everyone fell in love with The 1975 for. It’s almost insulting to compare the two, when Matty Healy has become the intolerable pariah of mainstream indie, and Milk. are ethereal pop gold of the highest degree. So with that in mind, enough 1975 comparisons! Let’s give 1, The EP, the attention and appreciation it deserves.
A Little More kicks off the EP with what feels like a switching on – dreamy synths and precise beats give us a taste of what to expect on the rest of the EP. It achieves what so many woozy, meandering soundscapes struggle to – it’s both a bop in its own right, and a daydreamy haze. Saudade parts 1 and 2 do the same. Part 1 provides a drifting reverie of echoes, electric interjections set against a massive, muted cinematic backdrop punctuated with moments of melancholy acoustic guitar. Part 2, on the other hand, lives up to its feature (Search Party Animal). It takes all the ether of Part 1 and injects it with quick stepping beats, punchy synths and dance vibes of the highest order.
It’s a bold move, to have a third of your debut EP be instrumental interludes – but not only does the music bang, but anyone who’s not quite sated will have their thirst quenched for sure by the tracks on either side. Lead single Drama Queen is infectious from the off, a perfectly inviting combo of the aforementioned 1975 vibes, LANY, Pale Waves – in fact, name any impossible-not-to-love-and-sway-along-to indie-pop act, huge or small, and we’ll guarantee that they’re well rivalled by Milk..
Ready-made to appeal to the moody, tongue-in-cheek indie teenagers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow (as well as anyone older looking to indulge themselves in a bit of angst), Drama Queen is a perfectly-crafted bop from lyrical nuggets like “do you wanna dance with me while your sisters talk shit” and “it’s your party, cry if you want to”. Milk.’s lyricism is impeccably toned for a debut – exactly the right ratio of down-to-earth vs up-in-the-clouds, enough relatable blanket statements set against stingingly vivid storytelling of the day-to-day. And stories come to live when they’re told well, of course, so it helps that Drama Queen and Treat me are undeniable bangers.
And just to make sure everyone 100% gets that Milk. have got their genre completely under their thumb, the EP closes with the quintessential heartbreaker. Flickering background synths, a gentle acoustic guitar as the track’s backbone, simplistic, sensitively delivered vocals – a recipe proven time and time again to tug on heartstrings, and mastered completely in Always On Time. A hint of sax allows the track to flourish in all dimensions, without distracting from the blue mood.
1, The EP, is a remarkable debut. It’s so polished you have to squint to look at it, it shows breadth of promise, it shows immense talent. But most of all, it shows that you’re a fool if you think Milk. are going to stay small for long – get in on the ground level and get 1, The EP in your ears, because one day you’re gonna be bragging that you saw them in a venue with a capacity smaller than 10,000.
1, The EP is out now.
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