Saturday 30 August 2014

Album Review: A Little Scared by A Great Notion


I first discovered Peterborough based folk punk band A Great Notion after searching through Aaahh!!! Real Records website and picked up their two releases basically because they were cheap. After a first listen to both Fun With Swifts and Possibilities I Knew I had a couple of bargains, A Great Notion are a phenomenal band. On September 1st they release their new EP A Little Scared. Here’s a review of it.

A Little Scared starts on with a song named This Isn’t Kansas. It starts out with a fiddly little guitar riff before the song bursts into life. The song itself is about not being scared to leave home to follow your dreams. The rousing chorus of “we’ve got a lot to learn and more to live for, I know you’re strong enough to fight for what you love so, hold on to your dreams and don’t let go, I know you’re scared of leaving can’t you see that I am too” really brings the song home and will inspire massive sing-alongs. Fantastic start to the EP.

Track two is titled Sleep Well. It’s the fastest song on the EP and tells a tale about two different lifestyles. The first about someone who lives their life by the book – good job, nice house and a wife, the second about somebody who lives their life the way they want to despite it not being “conventional.” The moral of the tale is that the second person can sleep soundly knowing that they are they are being themselves and having a clear conscious because of this. This is a song that will make you think about how you live your own life.

The third song is called 5th February. This acoustic song is really quite beautiful. It’s a letter to an unborn baby about how much it will be loved. I am nowhere near good enough with words to really do it justice by writing about it so I suggest you go check it out yourself.

The final song is Peggle Forever. The full band is back for this song about two people who were in love and inseparable slowing growing apart. I love the early analogies “you’re the razor and I’m the wire, you’re the smoke and I’m the fire.” This is really inventive song writing. The song style reminds me of Gainesville punk rockers Hot Water Music, with its dual clean and gruff harmonies. Peggle Forever is a very strong closing song for A Little Strong.


A Little Scared is a great release from a band that will sadly go underneath a lot of people’s radars. I only discovered them through dumb luck. All four songs on this release are great and also very different in their own way. It’s impressive how a band can make such a varied EP. I urge you to go and check them out, they are an incredible talent. 


Now listening to Peggle Forever by A Great Notion

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