Definitely Not The Losing Touch

Music seems to have little pockets of talent, here in the UK. Some, like Manchester, Brighton or Liverpool are obvious. Some, less so. Barnsley, for example, might not immediately spring to mind but that's something The Losing Touch would love to change.

Six piece Indie band The Losing Touch have released their debut EP "Midnight Again." Originally the idea of James Gilroy (Vocal) and Nevyn Stevenson (Guitar), dreamt up in a pub in Barnsley over a small glass of Guinness, the lineup was completed with the addition of Callan Mellor (Bass), Liam Brown (Keys), Tom Laffey (Guitar) and Ben Scarff (Drums).

"Midnight Again" is, quite frankly, five tracks of sublime brilliance. There are definite shards of the likes of Nick Cave or Tom Waits, but a massive slice of Doves shines through - all of whom the band cite as their influences.

Opening with the quite brilliant "There Must Be More", we're treated to a wonderfully worked piece of laid back indie pop, a song of hope, accompanied by a video that chronicles the major events of recent history. Lyrically, vocally, musically - this feels like the perfect song to turn to when you need to reassess the world around you.

Hear The Losing Touch on Spotify - click the image above

"That Age" and "Save The Last One" continue this feeling, with some beautiful strings emphasising the emotion of the songs, before leading into "Change" - (The Verve meets Johnny Cash) - moody and in ominous its build up to it's full splendour, a sumptuous cacophony of instruments that that help to carry the song to it's conclusion.

The EP ends with the title track - stripped back to acoustic guitar and vocals as the song begins, before bringing in the rest of the instruments right as you expect them to, familiar yet welcome and feeling just right. We mentioned earlier how you can hear a Doves influence and that influence shines through in this song.

This is an impressive debut for The Losing Touch. It feels as if every instrument respects the others, there's no competition to be at the forefront - there are no big, screaming guitar solo's, for example, just intelligently interwoven musicality, topped with Gilroy's delicate, smooth vocals.