Desert Hearts, Robyn G Shiels
Split 7"

I love split singles where contrast is the key; Nirvana's split with The Jesus Lizard may be one of the biggest-selling of all time, but the two bands weren't really that different. You couldn't get more different than what's on offer here...

Desert Hearts are an indie-rocking three-piece with all the uptempo urgency of Pretty Girls Make Graves and the introspective edge that made Interpol's 'Turn On The Bright Lights' the winner it was. They've had an album out before this - 'Let's Get Worse' (on Tugboat) - and if 'Ocean', the track here, is anything to go on, it's well worth checking out.

Robyn G Shiels doesn't do uptempo. 'Two Nights In June' is beautifully bleak, but absolutely full of emotion. Over a minimalist acoustic backdrop, Robyn lets his words flow from the heart, bypassing the head completely. It's raw, naked songwriting at its very best, and worthy of investigation by anyone with even a passing interest in the works of Will Oldham or Elliott Smith. Amazingly, this is his debut release; words fail me.