Teal
Hearth

The debut EP by Australian band Teal released originally in 2013 sees the light of day anew when it is reissued as part of label Bird’s Robe Records’ anniversary series. Hearth it is called, and it contains five tracks, it is as far as I can determine the only release by the band, besides a few singles related to it. That is what I can determine from the press material and simple web searches, Teal isn’t exactly a word that limits the number of hits, but their own channels aren’t updated in quite a while.

The EP itself can be described to fit in the progressive rock stylings of classic names with a dose of more modern alternative rock. Nothing extraordinarily original, progressive doesn’t really signify progressive when it comes to music but rather describes the style of once progressive artists. Still, it is relatively fresh, and the production is pretty good, the vocalist average and the variation could have been better – I am not sure they would have managed to make an entertaining album without broadening their musical horizons a little bit.

Five good songs are what we are treated to, I kind of like this EP even though it feels a bit repetitive when I play it in the car. Probably this is due to the shorter playing time and the fact that the five songs aren’t exactly varied. The best of these five tracks is the second one called Don’t Wake Up, but they are all fine. I think that it would have been interesting to see how this band would have fared if they had persevered and released an album in 2015 or something as this one isn’t lacking great potential.

Hearth is enjoyable enough to be worth a shot, there is probably a higher-than-average chance that you will find it quite appealing. Therefore, the conclusion will have to be that the album gets a nod of approval, but perhaps not an unreserved endorsement.

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