A Guide In Time Of Great Danger

Along with the likes of Jimmy Behan, Joan Of Arse and Daemien Frost, Estel are the much undervalued and underexposed anti-christs to the Frames, Mundy and Damien Rice’s hand-wringing preachings. This largely instrumental album, which is cut from the same cloth as the Redneck Manifesto and Godspeed You Black Emperor, is infused with a certain darkness, yet is stripped down, unpretentious, a beacon of lo-fi loveliness.

It draws from an array of influences, uses various instruments to wondrous and unusual effect, and even the song titles display a gloriously unorthodox approach – where ‘Bang, Bang No More Martini’, ‘King Of Casual Vomit’, and ‘Free Cyanide For The Rockstar Elite’ originated from simply boggles the mind.

Their manifesto is, gladly, not to reach out to a mass audience willing to swallow any old record, but to address those who welcome a dash of Trans Am, Slits and Sonic Youth in their music. Needless to say, it’s a small, but perfectly formed audience, and they’ve been well rewarded.