Hayes Peebles - Doldrums (EP Review)

It's been a really long time since Hayes Peebles has released an "official" EP. Over the last couple of years he's released demo sets on his bandcamp. In fact I'm pretty sure his only proper release up until this point is his 2008 self-released EP Condense (which is very good and I recommend you check it out). The official follow up has been something I've been anticipating for a really long time. Heck, back in 2011 when I interviewed Hayes he said he was working on a follow up EP called Nothing that to my knowledge and from my research was never released (I know some of the demos sent to me for it ended up on his demo bandcamp releases). Well out of nowhere, without much said about it, Peebles posted his new EP Doldrums on bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want.

The EP is four songs and it basically consists of two acoustic based songs with vocals and two piano based instrumentals. Hayes said it was recorded over a two week period in January 2014. Even with the quick turn around, the mastering, production, and song writing all make it sound really good.

The EP is about as good as you can expect it to be if you were a fan of Condense or the demos that have been released. It's definitely more mature than Condense (that should be expected though due to how long ago Condense was released). The piano based songs are very well written and add a lot to the overall mood of the EP. "Sketches 2 & 3" is an especially interesting listen. The two tracks with vocals show Peebles continues to improve as a vocalist. His voice sounds top notch on the EP.

Peebles may not be the quickest when it comes to releasing new music, but his output is consistent. Everything he's released has been pretty high quality. Doldrums is an EP I would highly recommend checking out. Peebles is a great songwriter and I know this EP will get quite a few listens this year. I also wouldn't be surprised if you did see it on my best of EP list for 2014. I've been waiting to hear it for a while. It definitely lived up to the hype in many respects. The only complaint I have is that I wish it had been a little longer (or possibly a full length), but for an EP that was recorded in two weeks I'm not complaining.