To my mind, Football, etc. have come to represent the very best the indie-emo niche has to offer. By which I mean that they transcend the genre’s grating sentimentalism, aiming instead for magnetic melancholy, an effortless feat thanks to the moody softness of Lindsay Minton’s haunting tones. Following their two LPs ‘The Draft’ and ‘Audible’, one might’ve imagined that the band were in for a career without getting out of first gear. One would’ve been right as new EP, ‘Disappear’, follows directly in the footsteps of its predecessors.

For all their formal monotony, it is still quite obvious how much the band have honed their skill. Every track here epitomizes what the band have been doing best for a while now: writing gentle, yet haunting, indie tracks, filled with the tangible emotion of Minton’s vivid lyricism. If anything can be said to have changed, it is the general mood of the songs, which appear to be the result of an even deeper plunging into the angsty pits of self-loathing (which I mean in the best possible sense).

’Sometimes I find myself in an awful place / but I can pretend that I am not there’ on ’Sunday’ is as discreetly brutal an opening line you’re likely to find in an EP packed full with dark corners and pain-ridden memories. ’Disappear’ might be a small window into a terribly bleak internal world, but in truth the view is so tantalizing as to be impossible to look away. An essential EP.

3.5/5

’Disappear’ EP by Football, etc is out on now on Count Your Lucky Stars.

Football, etc. links: Facebook|WordPress|Bandcamp

Words by James Berclaz-Lewis (@bearclawlewis)