EP REVIEW: Ask The Poet - Death Or Distance

Norwich Six-piece country-folk Americana band, Ask The Poet Debut their alluring 5-track EP Death Or Distance produced by Owen Turner, at Sickroom Studios.

Ask The Poet is Liz Kramer (vocals), Ashley Wyatt (acoustic guitar/ vocals) Gillian Bridges (bass guitar), Jamie Sutterby (lead guitars) and Tim Skinner (drums) with special feature of Michelle Monck for some of the lyrics. All arrangement by Ashley and/or Liz.

First and foremost, I would like to extend appreciation that this EP is a lot of independent work from the band and continues through to the cover art by Ashley Wyatt. beautifully and poetically composed of stained glass windows of a church and of decaying foliage which sets the visuals for the title of the EP. I also would like to extend appreciation to CRB’s John Rawstron (JWAR Photography) for passing this EP to me for review and congratulate him on his fine work on the back cover of the physical EP :)

Alright onto the actual reviewing part!
Opening up with the leading title track, Death Or Distance, is serene clean electric guitar solo riffs accompanied with warm bass and gentle acoustic hammering on chords before serene vocals and harmonies. I love the imagery in the lyrics. A lot of colour is used within the lyrics, my favourite is “When blue pushes out to gold…” It’s a very pretty song about love overcoming and conquering all, it feels like the ideal serene traveling song, the hammer ons drive it.

The following track, Everyday Life, starts with a shuffling drums and warm, almost funky bass, still keeping that warm and inviting feeling but this track really uplifts the tone. Life, Love and death are indeed no taboo, but this song makes it inviting to talk about any topic.

Aces Are High, once again takes it up a notch and is quite playful and uplifting, with jittery lead guitar and wandering bass. The lyrics are quite catchy and I have drawn quite a few interpretations from them, one being that the heart is being toyed with, perhaps in a playful way and playing from both sides. It can be exciting, however a little dangerous, and you need to step back from time to time. It can also be another love description “my favourite game is you”. Next up is Waiting at Trails End, this track has a serious tone however the choruses comes back to the playful uplifting, I love the use of deep toms in this track and bridge is a wonderful break and solo section is the cherry on top of the tracks I had listened to up until this point.

Finally, Bleeding Out, I feel this track shines the most in instrumental and technicality, there's so much texture, heights, dips and returning themes. It’s catchy and it kind of reminds me of Fleetwood Mac a little. It feels like a perfect ending for the EP. My favourite parts are the lead guitar switching from clean to distorted tones, just gives me chills.

Overall, I love how every song is so friendly, inviting and warm, the tracks just reach 4 minutes each on average, that alone tells you each one is crafted with heart and soul with no rush. The whole EP follows from each other very nicely and feels like a story being told chapter by chapter, the hooks really stick in your mind and that is really great to hear on a song writing level and on a lyrical level there’s a lot of personality, creativity, it’s all a wonderful and pleasant experience.