
With so many releases to their name, Staffordshire's Epic45 can now be considered old hands at making music. Their latest long player - whilst never straying too far from their earliest releases - sees them as masters of a very particular kind of music.
The title track is a stunning effort. When it starts it's like the aural equivalent of a beautiful summer morning with the vocals urging the listener to "wake up". The aura of dreams, nostalgia and romanticism is never far away even though the remaining tracks are mostly instrumental and when Ben Holton does sing, he does so in a gentle whisper. The titles to 'The Stars In Spring', 'Summers First Breath' and 'We Grew Up Playing In Fields Of England' need no explanation as sunny guitars and carefully-chosen samples evoke a world that is familiar to anyone who remembers the joy of school summer holidays. This is of course testament to the melodic prowess of core members Holton and Rob Glover. Influences can be hard to pinpoint but 'Forgotten Mornings' marries the mystique of Boards Of Canada to acoustic melancholia and the innocent guitar sounds of The Lotus Eaters spring regularly to mind. Certainly one could accuse Epic45 of a band never being able to let the past go but their past is one of childhood memories and experiences rather than more fashionable musical references. On this evidence, may they never grow up.