Skipping Girl Vinegar: One Chance

This three-song EP from a fine Melbourne band has all the rootsy feel of a Steve Earle live performance. The title track is the keeper and charmer of the lot, with the handclaps and folksy vibe oozing out of the opening and saturating the listeners. And it’s a real barnstormer despite the mid-tempo tempo, building on the energy and intensity before quickly stopping on a dime. Elsewhere, “Cold Come the Nights” is a harmonica-fuelled number that brings Wilco or Ryan Adams to mind if they were sweeping up the bottle caps, gathering up the plastic cups and mopping the beer from the barroom floor. At just three songs it’s hard to measure a band’s worth, but it’s definitely a band to keep one’s eye and ears out for.