Great Wild Heartache — Allison EP

I learned about Great Wild Heartache via John Moreland’s Facebook page, so I knew they must be good people.

Like John Moreland, Great Wild Heartache’s greatest strength is their ability to toss off brilliant lyrical twist after brilliant lyrical twist like it ain’t no thang. Though there are only four songs on the EP, they each leave a big mark. The first two songs, “Mind’s Achin'” and “Solar Flare” are reminiscent of driving ’90s rock hits like “It’s a Shame About Ray.” As if you needed another reason to hit that ol’ play button. “Sunlight” is a meditation about hitting low points, but finding a way to push on through. “Bronco Babe,” the last track, is a meditation about, well, Bronco babes.

All four songs start off by repeating a catch hook until all of the players join in and build off of it. It’s certainly effective but, personally, I don’t know if I’d want to listen to a whole album of songs that use this single technique. Hopefully, as Great Wild Heartache gains its sea legs, they’ll become even more confident about taking risks in their songwriting. As Allison shows, they have a lot to be proud of already.