I’ve seen Jack Colwell
& The Owls play a few times around Sydney before, and if you have you’ll
know the outgoing and eccentric musician always puts on a interesting show.
Still, it hardly prepares you for his EP White Noise, which is even more
experimental and varied than his live show. 

Opening track “White Noise” opens
with crackly noise samples and bizarre production techniques. And then the
melody breaks through all the bleak soundscapes and it’s chilling. “Rat a Tat”
is even more haunting with his piano and orchestral arrangements that Colwell
wrote all on his lonesome. Its all pretty damn impressive, especially the
odd-medieval and gypsy time signatures and instrumentation. “Go Back” opens
with an unsettling organ-sound and speaker box vocals, it’s a pretty minimalist
song and concludes with some highly disturbing heavy vocals. 

It sort of
reminded me of the Peter Hammill album “Silent Corner, Empty Stage” which is a
bold statement, but it’s a bold sound and definitely experimental. “Persephone”
is another short little number which features some incredible piano work by
Colwell, where as “Out Of The Window Into The Sea” is a brief instrumental
interlude that leads into the closing epic “Three Ravens”, which sort of brings
the whole EP together. It’s pretty intense, maybe to intense for some but you’ve
got to respect the music ship and arrangements here. Plus if you’ve listened to
the new songs live, then you’ll see it as a nice progression. Maybe give this
one a listen first before buying.

Review Score: 7/10