I’m going to start by saying something totally unpleasant but very necessary. Once I have done this please read on. In fact I assume since you’re still reading this you’re probably in my thrall and that my subtle form of hypnotism has been successful. So please, read on. Ok, here comes the unpleasant bit; Deer Chicago sound exactly like if Biffy Clyro had made their first album using the singer from The Wombats.

Ok I’m glad we got that out-of-the-way. Ignoring that fact, this works. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This limited-edition two-track EP was released in November by the Oxford trio and physical copies sold out almost immediately. It’s two tracks of fairly typical post-rock, quiet/loud with Jonathan Payne’s vocals flying excitedly over the top of them. What the band do well are volume spikes, long crescendos, and the cumulative effects of repetition over long periods with subtle changes. At the risk of boxing the band in, though, they sound like nice boys who you’d happily take home to meet your mother. Not the most alluring of things for a rock n roll band – if they can develop a nastier edge then expect to see them disappear like those other Oxford geniuses, Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia, otherwise catch them while you can!