Fossa (noun): an anatomical pit or depression - such as the temporal fossa of the skull, or the fossa ovalis of the heart. A definition embodied by the band themselves who viscerally shape their music around matters of the heart and mind.

Sea of Skies is Fossa's debut EP. It synthesises classic song structures and melodies with an experimental edge. In these four songs, the rustic feel of acoustic instrumentation is brought together with digital elements that lend density and colour, coupling genuine emotion with exploratory sounds.

Opening track ‘Five Days’ is a love-song that explores the experience of falling for someone over the course of five days - growing increasingly obsessive around the hooked refrain of 'you gotta be mine'. The break up of this relationship is tackled in the EP's closing track,‘Swan Song’.

The other two songs here, ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Sea of Trees’, take the listener on a 'life cycle' journey – depicting metaphorical journeys that become progressively darker and wilder.

It's an impressive, and well produced debut, and if this is the typical standard of their writing and performing, their debut album should be one to look out for.

8

Nick Smithson