Dye #2
The First Small Man / Spare Parts

Sometimes you can get so used to listening to half-decent bands that you forget what it was that made you fall in love with music in the first place. Every now and then, something comes along to remind you, and when it does, you can't believe that you ever had feelings for anything else.

Dye #2 is all about contrasts, with the male and female twin vocals complementing each other perfectly, and the constructivist songwriting allowing for rapid fluctuations between the intense sections and the more dreamy, spaced out bits. The ease with which the songs change pace is reminiscent of The Wildhearts, although the sound itself, thankfully, does more than just copy what has gone before.

This demo contains some of the best music I have heard in a long time, with both songs consistently displaying the qualities mentioned above, but every now and then achieving something even more special. 'Spare Parts', in particular, builds up layer upon layer of sound, before falling away to the bare bones of Caroline's beautifully mellow vocals, then building up again to a climactic conclusion. This music contains a certain vitality that could only be bettered in a live performance.