Reviewed by Ewan Jones

Is it lazy of me to draw comparisons between Hannah Speirs and a bunch of contemporary, original, female songwriters? If you feel it is then please accept my apologies - I do it with the best of intentions. After all, on the strength of this EP, Speirs deserves to have some recognition alongside Laura Marling, Lisa Hannigan and Regina Spektor. Canada-based Hannah demonstrates that she is writing original contemporary songs that are as relevant, heartfelt and quirky as anything out there. These aren't novelty songs that wear off after a couple of listens - they are deep and well arranged and thought out. Opening track, the epic "Bring Out Your Dead", is my favourite from the EP - it just grabs and doesn't let go for the full four minutes - the closest I've got to hearing a perfect song for a long time. Speirs says that the CD "was the creative combination of my ideas and my brother David's arranging skills" and so respect is due to both of them, as well as engineer Chris Miles. The tracks are diverse, always interesting and exciting - the piano and guitar led songs are sensitively embellished with subtle touches of banjo, mandolin and violin here, or left field backing vocals and electric delay there. Clearly, Hannah is a hugely impressive new talent.

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