Departures

2015 release, the debut album from London based quintet Owl & Mouse, fronted by Australian songwriter Hannah Botting. The songwriting vehicle for Hannah, which began as a twosome with sister Jen, those early outings have quickly grown into something altogether more fully formed. The extra additions - playing alongside star turns from Michael Collins (Allo Darlin') and Paul Rains (Allo Darlin', Tigercats) - have given Hannah's songwriting an added musical depth, complimenting the record's overarching themes and ideas. Straight out of the same school of Australian songwriting as The Go-Betweens, Triffids and Courtney Barnett, Hannah's words follow her compatriots' ability to be widescreen and personal at once, infused with an added degree of delicacy and poignancy. The results manifest themselves in an album that's both infectious and joyous - 'Misfits' and it's ruminations on family; bittersweet - the brass-laden title track and it's tales of airport arguments; and understatedly emotive - the turmoil of deciding whether to hold on to someone you love or not hold them back, detailed in 'Canvas Bags'; and 'Sinking Song's memories of the struggle of making friends in a new town, led by Wade's Stephin Merritt-esque baritone).