For a six-song, 17-minute disc, quite a range of experience awaits the listener. Back east from Calgary, producer Jay Crocker (Ghostkeeper), guides the Haligonian McKiel past his pop sensibility into the wild side. The fourth track, “Twin Speaks,” wraps itself around some peculiar, memorable upper register plucking before descending into a pit of sonic chaos. It’s followed by the robust fuzz rock of “Accolades.” McKiel has a knack for getting his song across quickly. By the two-minute mark, he’s ready to take it sideways and circle back. Such a compression of concepts make this macrocosmic EP more like an album.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2014.