Don't let the liberal use of the word 'fuck' in title track "Lost And Found" confuse you: the "Lost And Found" EP from North Yorkshire blues-folk merchants Twilight Elevators is, for the most part, gentle twilight Americana. Until, that is, you plug into Joss Worthington's soft, grainy vocals that recount stories of failure in its many different flavours (although life and love feature pretty highly).
Country barn-dance track "Lost and Found", with its decidedly catchy guitar melody and never-less-than jaunty harmonica, hides a decidedly bitter English irony as the protagonist deals with what sounds suspiciously like a love-life gone sour: "I've been/talking to myself/guess things are going/very well," deadpans Worthington, before compelling the departed (or even himself) to "quit all your fucking around."
"Barkisland Bandits" pulls a similar trick, lulling the listener in with more sweetly plucked guitar and drums as crisp as a Granny Smith's. Don't be fooled though, for it's bitterness aplenty and just another chance for Worthington to announce, straight off the bat, "You're on a quest for glory/your chances are remote." Ouch. With all hope crushed, and lyrics as despondent as they are dismissive, Barkisland (a place near Halifax apparently) doesn't exactly come across as the land of opportunity.
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"B & T" is languorous, sleepy Americana, with a guitar line that shimmers like a setting sun going down behind a late-harvest field of corn. It's gentle, wistful folk that, despite its slightly mournful tone (a case of if the theme ain't fixed, don't break it), offers a glimmer of redemption, right at the death: "Battered and torn/but still not forlorn/so tell everyone/to wait out the storm".
It could be argued that the EP is a little monothematic, but Worthington sounds so comfortable, so at ease, with his anguish that it's like sliding on some old slippers, albeit a pair that're so full of holes as to fail at the very purpose for which they were conceived. It's unexpectedly winsome, even charming, a word not normally reserved for self-pity and despondency, and whilst any forthcoming album will call for some much-needed variety, the EP does its bitter-sweet job very well.
Twilight Elevators on Myspace
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