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THE UNFAITHFUL WAYS: First Four Songs

Best Song winners in 2007’s Smokefree Rockquest, The Unfaithful Ways hail from Christchurch and have been performing in the city’s major venues since. They call themselves an alt-country band, but the tracks on this debut EP are more in the pure country vein to my ears, especially opener I Can’t Get Your Cruel Love Off My Mind. The four-piece (vocalist Marlon Williams, guitarist Seb Warne, bassist Ben Woolley and drummer Simon Brouwer) wear their influences openly, and infuse their music with a sense of melancholy, especially evident on Caledonia. The melancholy continues throughout the EP, and becomes a bit too much – some of country music’s black humour would not go amiss. Despite the Lyttleton-based band being termed ‘volcano-inspired’, there seems to be little in the way of burning heat here – the quartet are laid back and vocalist Wooley is rather laconic in his delivery. While ‘First Four Songs’ is an interesting taster, I’m not convinced the band have yet found their own voice enough to warrant recording.

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