Northern Portrait
Napoleon Sweetheart EP
Matinee
In my review of Denmark’s Northern Portrait debut EP this spring, I pegged one of their tracks as being a contemporary analogue for “Jeane,” one of The Smiths’ long forgotten stellar B-sides. With their second offering this year, Northern Portrait hone their focus even greater on the stylings of the Morrissey/Marr songbook.
Opener “I Give You Two Seconds to Entertain Me” rides on a sparse, but thick rhythm section to bounce the insistent guitar strum along into something simultaneously lilting and nervy. It’s easily as aching as “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side.” “In an Empty Hotel” jangles up some spry finger-picking to complement singer Stefan Larsen’s most interesting vocal turn. “Sporting a Scar” and “Our Lambrusco Days” both delve into the soft focus droning nostalgia of autumn reflection ’80s English post-punk evoked so well.
With two high quality teasers now released, we can only hope that when Northern Portrait finally get around to releasing a full-length it will live up to the foundation they’ve spent laying in 2008.
Matinee Recordings: http://www.indiepages.com/matinee
