“The Boy Who Trapped The Sun” is the recording/stage name of Colin MacLeod, a singer-songwriter hailing from the Isle of Lewis (that’s in the Hebrides, off the North-West coast of Scotland for the less geographically informed amongst us.) A couple of years back he made the move to the mainland down to London to make a name for himself beyond his locale.
“The Watermark E.P.” is a four track offering from the Scot, which no doubt demonstrates his ability to write emotional and melodic songs, with a melancholic edge to it all. It starts off with the relatively upbeat “Leaving”; it bounces along at a sprightly pace with some nice female backing vocals in the chorus which give the track just a bit more depth. From here on in however, the whole affair is a bit more downbeat, with the rest of the tracks seemingly difficult to distinguish from one another.
The talent is there no doubt, there are some real gems in terms of lyrics dotted throughout. From what I gather almost all the instrumental work is done by himself, and his voice suits the music he makes down to the ground, and as much as I hate to do it to him, I can’t help but hear echoes of Damien Rice in his voice. The songs individually are all decent songs which stand up well in their own right. My only qualm is the songs collected onto one disc. It doesn’t really work in that with it being four tracks; there isn’t enough variation in there to really grab your attention. Not to say that the lad isn’t worth keeping an eye on, this just falls a little short for me.
6/10
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