Night Minutes - Self-titled digital play
(self-released)

To be honest, I was a little thrown by the lo-fi, analog feel of Night Minutes' "Sweetheart at the funeral" on my first listen, but I've since fallen quite hard for the band's sound: the warm, viscous layers of guitars and keyboards, the slight hint of distortion on the vocals, even the digital drums. If anything, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound seems more at home on Night Minutes' self-titled EP than on more polished recordings, the dense strata of instrumentation providing a fine vehicle for both the strong songwriting and Anna Knutson's and Max J Hansson's wonderful vocal harmonies and tradeoffs. As noted in the mp3 post for "Sweetheart at the funeral", there is something infectious about Night Minutes, and their ability to evoke the summery, 1960s girl group feel without sacrificing depth is one of the band's greatest strengths. Despite only being three tracks long, I've yet to tire of the EP. There's not a weak song to be found, and for such a short recording it is well-paced: the upbeat "Sweetheart..." is followed by the slower, more contemplative "Queens", with the fabulous, building "Lord, I can never be your mirror" rounding out the record. There’s not much more you can ask of a young band. Having set the bar quite high with their debut effort, I am excited to see what Night Minutes have in store for the future.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson