EP Review: Screaming Maldini

Words: Kieran Toms

Screaming Maldini - 'And The Kookaburra Sings'

Screaming Maldini are a Sheffield six-piece formed partly out of former members of the Situationists (you may recall their rather good Daft Punk cover). Their myspace gives away some clues as to their sound: phrases like “soupcon of madness” and a long list of things they like including “choirs and trumpets” and “5/4 and 7/8 “ letting you know that their debut release will be far from mundane.


This EP is so full of fast-flowing ideas that at first it can be tough to get your head around them - songs seem twist away into some new fantastical trumpet or xylophone part almost for the sake of doing something different, and you occasionally fear that they have gone for quality rather than quantity of ideas. Happily though, further listens reap rewards, and the multitude of instruments generally starts to sound vital to the whole operation, rather than overly flamboyant.

The faster tracks have their merits, particularly 'The Extraordinary', which impresses with, among many other things, some excellent backing-vocal harmonies. However, my favourite track here is slightly more restrained 'The Albatross', incidentally the only female-vocal-led song on the EP. It simmers slowly, before finally coming to the boil in a kind of multiple instrument explosion that could easily sound overwrought but instead succeeds in a very uplifting fashion indeed.

This is certainly a striking collection of tracks, containing more ideas than some full-length albums. Whilst there might be a case for toning it down a little and cultivating some of their most wanton extravagance, within the context of an EP it, on the whole, works very well.

SCREAMING MALDINI - THE EXTRAORDINARY (MP3 DOWNLOAD)

Screaming Maldini - The Albatross (STREAM ONLY)

'And The Kookaburra' is out now on the perpetually amazing Alcopop label. Buy here.

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