hthyo“A band (of sorts)”, thus reads the Facebook page of a new Dublin band called Here to Help You Out. Their debut EP ‘Nowhere to Be’ was released for download on Bandcamp in June and features six tracks of what they hope will be the seeds of another EP to come later on this year. The vocals are delivered by Louise O’Hanlon and she is complimented by a full band.

The record is largely a variety of stripped down acoustic tracks like Lullaby and Nowhere to Be and soft rock songs like Little Blue Star. The former being quite literally a lullaby “I’ll sing you to sleep, my voice as soft as a ghost”.  It is a gentle number that has a really sweet vocal and is one of the stand out songs of the six on offer. Nowhere to Be, however, sounds more like a ’90s track that you might hear on an America television show as background music. It’s harmless and easy to listen to without ever really taking off or engaging the listener. It tails off at the end and feels more like filler than single material.

The closing track is an acoustic number with only a guitar and a vocal from Louise. Ironically titled, (given the recent glorious weather), Damn you, Sunshine  is potentially the highlight of the EP. A song about one person’s despair at the state of her life and having no one to blame but the sunshine “I got nothing to show the world but my failure”.  The song points out all the ways in which she is wasting her time (though one might argue that practicing guitar hero is not one of them) before finally finding solace in the person she loves. It’s a bright and bouncy song and is a nice way to close the EP.

Given the relative youth of the band, the fact they’ve been able to put out an EP at all is impressive. Given some time and some touring to hone their skills they should be able to make a solid effort at a follow up, for the time being this is a pretty good place to start.