Tim And Sam - Put Your Slippers On

can only be described in terms of a sandwich. A really good sandwich. The riff, which runs through the entire song is the bread, because of course that forms the foundation of the song, and if there was no bread there would be no sandwich and the song wouldn’t function properly. Bit by bit, the other ingredients are added to create this lush sound that makes you want to shut your eyes and go to sleep – in a good way, of course. The song takes a triangular theme – starting with the bare minimal, building up to the peak and then slowly fading down to the bare minimal once more. It’s a tried and tested method with the more instrumental bands amongst us, and it’s a method that never fails.

Tim and Sam haven’t stuck to the norm really, choosing instruments which are better suited to the BBC Philharmonic rather than an indie-folk band, but the fusion of classical (flute, clarinet, piano, glockenspiel and violin) and modern (guitar and percussion) works wonderfully well, and partly contributes to their quirkiness. The track can appear to be repetitive at times, with the main riff repeating throughout the whole four or so minutes, but instruments pop in and out frequently, so this keeps the attention when required. It would be interesting to hear this track with vocals, but then again, Tim and Sam would just become another folk band, and where’s the fun in that?