Hailing from his East London flat, solo artist Greg Zucker delivers the Fading EP under the moniker Land Mass. The EP release doubles up as the first-ever release of any sort under the name Land Mass, and you are greeted with the opener titled “Green Parakeet”. It’s a very melodic and moving track, focusing a lot on his vocals and a moody acoustic guitar, before you are greeted with a bursting, almost Brit rock guitar at the 40-second point.
…a stunning debut with a genre-spanning EP packed with moody vocals, soaring guitars, and memorable melodies.
Following on from the leading track is the really fast-paced offering titled “Trojan Horses”. It’s a clear-cut winner for me and is a solid indie rock cut with moody vocals and high-toned guitars that fans of Interpol, Bloc Party, and Franz Ferdinand will all appreciate. It’s got a lot of rushing guitar moments and drum patterns that will have you tapping along in no time.
The track that sandwiches everything is titled “EVEDA” and is more of a ballad track with a smattering of keyboard tones for added depth. It’s really different compared to the first two tracks on this EP and is a bit more atmospheric in places too.
“Trojan Horses” is a six-minute epic that has a wonderful final third, but before we get to that point, you are treated to a delicate introduction to the song with sounds that would be familiar to the likes of Radiohead and Coldplay. It is low-key a strong offering, but because of the track time, I feel like a lot of radio stations may pass up on this one. This is certainly going to be one of the strongest tracks from the release moving forward, and in a decade’s time, I can see this being one of the most played tracks on his Spotify page.
Rounding out the release is “Head On The Ground”, and this four-minute track is a delicately soft song with a somewhat country and bluesy feel to it. It has some simple instrumentation, his moody vocals, and, of course, a very memorable closing minute.
Considering this EP is his debut release, this is nothing short of a 9/10 offering. It ticks all the boxes and showcases Land Mass’s sound across a wide variety of genres.