Postdata — Postdata

Wintersleep singer Paul Murphy and his brother Michael recorded this album as a gift for their mother, but it would seem the finished product warranted a wider release.

It's immediately evident that Postdata was made by a haunted man. With its creepy artwork, sparse instrumentation and spooky, ethereal lyrics, the prevalent mood is reminiscent of both The Antlers' Hospice and Joseph Arthur's Come To Where I'm From (more so the latter, as there's some literal commonality between Murphy's "In Chemicals" and Arthur's "Chemical").

Grief is palpable here, but it's to be expected — this project was conceived with Murphy's recently deceased grandparents in mind, and fueled both by a need to fill free time and "some scotch too."

There isn't much trace of Wintersleep's music here except, perhaps, their atypical hit, "Weighty Ghost." For the most part, Postdata is acoustic guitar or banjo with intermittent background noises and the occasional guest vocals, though it's a little too dark to be classified as folk.

As far as diversions go, these songs are superbly written.

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