Haunted Stereo - Can’t You See My Side

Haunted Stereo are an eclectic sextet hailing from Southampton, whose indie pop embraces a Pandora’s box of influences from Neil Young to Michael Nyman . A stack of well-received EPs already sit comfortably beneath their collective belts, and this November they hope to continue forth their success with a brand spanking new double A-side single.

Track one, ‘Can’t You See My Side’, is an upbeat, but oddly foreboding number, making use of a mixture of instruments from strings to piano to create this juxtaposition of emotions. An askew riff tumbles throughout the track, while sweet man-lady harmonies awash over the forefront. However, the tune ultimately fails to reach any killer climax, instead plodding along in a monotone manner from start to finish, making for somewhat dissatisfying listening.

‘You Never Knew to Write’ protrudes with an almost vaudeville atmosphere with it’s theatrical skipping piano and soft, military drums. Female vox take the lead in this latter track, but Haunted Stereo continue to make use of their enjoyable gender-mix harmonies. Add to that an injection of flowing strings and jagged guitar riffs, and we have here an intriguingly enjoyable tune which somewhat beats it’s counterpart.

One conclusion which can be drawn from both of these tracks is that Haunted Stereo are slowly nurturing an undeniably fresh sound here. On one hand, full of evil intent, on the other, fun and cabaret - there is definitely something interesting waiting to be unlocked from the vaults. More, please!