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Single/Download Review
Owl & Mouse Somewhere To Go Fika Recordings 7"
Article written by
Ged M - Jul 23, 2014
Hannah Botting (her brother is Bill Botting of Moustache of Insanity and Allo Darlin’) is another Australian in Europe, another singer-songwriter, another lo-fi indiepopper. But while I can’t testify to her nationality, she’s atypical in respect of those other characteristics. There’s an observational acuity in her writing that’s almost novelish and her singing is freighted with bittersweet emotion, while she builds up her songs with inspired orchestration. In that sense, she’s not another anything.
Moving onto the tracks on this four song EP, ‘Don & Anna’ may be characters from Mad Men but the song's meaning is universal, maturing from lo-fi pop to an expansive, harmonic finish. ‘Don’t Read the Classics’ is an intimate, emotional plea to - or rejection of - someone gutless (“how I wish you could have been a fucking man”). If it's a true story, it could mortally wound the object of such disdain. The best songs are the deluxe ‘Terrible Things’, the O&M band able to stretch out and play, while 'Western Skies', sung by bassist Tom Wade, might be about feeling homesick for Australia but is both melancholic and incredibly catchy at once. Constructed of simple but strong tunes, Owl & Mouse’s second offering is a little gem.