I’ve got a shed load of reviews to catch up on, and yet, every now and then something comes along and ear worms its way to the top of the queue. So it is for Liverpool based Workstuff and their stunning debut EP Half-Asleep, Devoted 2.

This collection, Half – Asleep, Devoted 2 is as puzzling and as deep as its title. Clever, thought provoking and moreish, there’s enough packed in these near 19 minutes to fill a whole album.

The Intro to the EP, the cunningly entitled Intro, is a tasty little palate cleanser for the feast to come.

Electro, dark as ink, but as spiky as sonic, it leads into the first track proper, Mannequins Redux. The silky but slightly detached vocals on the EP remind me somewhat of The xx’s Oliver Sim, and this track might be an xx residing on a dark hard planet. With lyrics which speak of a confused lost soul (I’m not convincing myself of anything) and kind of feeling comfortable in that state, some solid rhythm floating into and out of the song, Mannequins Redux almost sounds like we have tapped into the flickering electronic pluses in the brain.

I’m not going to trot through all the tracks as this EP feels more of a whole piece than a group of different songs. Overall, I kind of get a vibe for sitting in a bus station when you pick up little snippets of random conversations “all cowboys have daddy issues” (OK, I’ve never quite heard that in Huddersfield bus station I admit), and little bits of rhythm which keep you company and warm for the rest of the day. These are 19 minutes to dip into and pick something different out every time.

I will pay a mention to the track Swayze in Ghost, not least for its excellent name, and because it rather reminds of what Gary Numan might have sounded like if he had a bit of imagination, and hadn’t always tried too hard to be a bit weird. This is effortless. I get a strong 80’s vibe on this track.

Then there is the strong power of Big Clam Shell, which is magnificently dramatic way to close.

I’d never say an artist is an exact copy of any other, but with this collection of tracks I’m getting a feeling that folk who like the darker side of The XX, the early music of electo doomsters Coil, Connan Mockasin, and the more obsure side of New Order and Depeche Mode would feel very at home with this EP.

Brilliant just brilliant.

* words by Tiggerligger

* images from the artists socials