CARLY CONNOR: 'Last Love' EP

 I recall seeing CARLY CONNOR playing live at King Tuts in Glasgow earlier this year when she supported Sound of Guns. I hadn’t heard of CARLY before, despite her being from these parts and really didn’t know what to expect: you know how it is with ‘local’ support acts, when the gig promoter books a band / artist with a loyal, paying fanbase so that at least the evening’s costs are offset.

Well, neither the promoter nor I should have been concerned, for two reasons. Firstly, Sound of Guns would easily sell out King Tuts on their own, and secondly, CARLY blew me away!

This three-track EP (available as a free download) can be heard below, but for what it’s worth, here’s my view.

Lead track ‘Last Love’ is a strong, powerful, almost pained track with nice, subtle use of a brass section. It’s one that’ll nestle itself in your head when you’re least expecting it to – but if I’m honest, it leaves me a little disappointed in that it has more of a ‘mainstream’ feel to it, when I think CARLY is at her best with a more rocking, bluesy or soulful style, like some of earlier work evidences. Still – sometimes it pays to diversify a little, so fair dos.

Ah! Now we’re talking: ‘The Road’ is the perfect illustration of what I was just talking about. This is the CARLY that I saw earlier in the year. This is about as soulful as you could want. This is the CARLY I like best.

Closing track ‘Walking’ is a cover of the old Shangri Las hit, ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand) and is every bit as good as the original, in my opinion.

So here you go – see what you think. If like me the lead track disappoints a little, then just remember that it probably doesn’t do CARLY justice; if you do like it, then just remember that she is even better ‘live!’

(A video for ‘Last Love’ should be available shortly.)

(8.5 / 10)