The Robot Heart - Dust (E.P.) (U.K.)

Brighton-based singer/songwriter Tom Marsh and his band The Robot Heart bring intricate, lushly harmonied folk/pop to their forthcoming debut EP Dust (Bleeding Heart) due July 5 in the U.K. -- a sound that one critic has described as "Icelandic sounding Beach Boys." We don't have much background -- a few odd pics, some sample tracks a brief press release -- but we do know that the music is exceptionally promising: downbeat chamber pop with a dark folk streak meshed with some eerily awesome vocal harmony arrangements. Of the six EP tracks, three are full-fledged band tracks produced by Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Portishead) while the remainder are stark demo-styled acoustic cuts featuring a simple backing of guitar, piano and some brushed percussion.

Marsh says that the the Dust tracks, a preview of a full-length set for release down the road, were written  "as a result of finding a way through grieving the deaths of several of my friends, drug/alcohol abuse, arrests, having my heart broken and feeling close to various forms of mental illness." Through those moments of despair, Marsh has created some remarkably lovely, lean and supple songs, weaving blissful vocal interplay with keyboardist Astra Forward on songs such as the goose-bump eliciting single "Lost In Stereo" and "After the Starfire (Acoustic)". Highly recommended.

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The Robot Heart - "Lost In Stereo" (from the Dust EP)

The Robot Heart - "After the Starfire (Acoustic)" (from the Dust EP)