Sparks in the Dark review - UKIndieMusic

“Empire Affair was formed in early 2011 in Bournemouth and consists of Neil Tallant (vocals), Jack Woolston (guitar), Matt Park (guitar), Tom Parrett (bass) and Darren Sheppard (drums). Recent highlights include numerous sell-out headline shows at London’s Dublin Castle, opening for chart topping band The Hoosiers, and playing to a packed Bournemouth o2 Academy.” A little introduction taken from their website! - not that they need one after listening to their EP.

After watching numerous videos of them preforming at gigs on youtube, I have come to one definite conclusion, they have a crowd-pleasing presence on stage that I am sure will fill venues in the future and that all of us, here at ukindiemusic, would love to see very soon!

The first song on their EP (sparks in the dark) was “Can’t get through”, it was filled with powerful guitar riffs that seemed fluid and unedited. This was the only unrelated song on the EP, the other three formed a trilogy depicting a story of an english man in Munich. The chorus of this particular song caused me, in particular, to tap my foot with the catchiness that it provided throughout. As we progress through the EP, in my opinion, the songs just seemed to improve more and more.

“Tornadoes” had more of a pop-rock feel to it that seemed familiar, it was never-the-less though a fantastic song. During the live performances online you can hear the audience sing along after online a couple of lines. Neil has a magical presence on the stage that the crowd can’t help but to love. This song was filled with a simple but amazing guitar rift. The lyrics are catchy and are a great listen!

“One night in Munich” continues the story told in tornadoes, this song was my favourite song on the EP by far. Throughout I just couldn’t help but do a little dance, which got quite awkward when in public! The other team members loved this song too and downloaded it straight away off of iTunes. The rhythm and beat created in this song by Tom and Darren was brilliant, fast and catchy without drowning out the true talent to the guitars (played by Matt and Jack). This is an absolute crowd pleaser that deserves to be heard by all.

The final song on the EP was “sunrise”, it concludes the story told by the last two songs. This song was the slowest of the bunch, taking a while to build up to lyrics. The song explores each layer of sound individually, then combining them together to provide another ground-breaking song. This song in particular, really demonstrates the true talent that the boys possess as a group.

This brilliant EP is available to downloaded on itunes or purchase a hard copy off of their website. The group also has some brilliant t-shirts available that look flawless. To purchase the CD (which i highly advise) visit http://empireaffair.bigcartel.com/product/cd-sparks-in-the-dark
A great job by these guys, we can’t wait for their new songs to be released. they have some true jaw-dropping potential.
Thanks for reading, 
K

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