a1055348303_10Can you judge an act by a three song EP? Admittedly, it’s a challange. But Joey Gavin succeeds to show most sides of his personality on ‘Circles’.

Adorned with the most unsettling cover art of 2015, the EP features the kind of tracks you’d imagine would be piped through hotel lobbies in a parallel universe. The vibrancy of the record is reflected in the varied, but humble, recording process.

Recorded in various friends houses, studios and schoolhouse lofts. We hope you enjoy,” he says on his Soundcloud.

If Your Moons Lays Empty sees Gavin play crooner over delicate percussion and acoustic strums not entirely dissimilar to to Best Coast. A pleasant track, and certainly the most accesible on the EP, with a feel-good instrumental bridge that radiates good vibes.

Opening track, Disappear, sees Gavin toe it out with elastic backing vocalists and waltzing piano chords – a very authentic psych folk experience. Don’t walk away …” Gavin purrs over the precise instrumentation.

Admittedly, Disappear is the odd-one-out of the three songs – it’s a slow burn that’s well worth a turn or two more to be fully appreciated.

Circles closes the EP simply, with sparse vocals and strings. Considering the EP’s strong start, the finish is slightly flat, and lacks the magic captured in its predecessors. Circles falls vicitim to the cursed singer-songwriter effect – ten seconds in and you can’t help but feel like you’ve heard it all before.

With a little time and more room to grow, Joey Gavin’s neat arrangements and pretty instrumentation would fit nicely on a solid ten track LP. ‘Circles’ shows plenty of potential, and with any luck, Gavin will continue to carve out his niche for psych-folk-blues in Ireland.