The Castle Forever - gathering dark (Pebble)

This is the first EP from The Castle Forever used to be known as The Cavalcade and a great band they were (one of the bands to get me back into indiepop to be honest) but now they have returned with a new name and an updated sound that does away with the drum machine and adds elements of folk and psychedelia to their lovely pop sound.

"A map of hearts" is a great low-key pop song, it meanders along with a real 60s psych-folk feel.  "Warm rooftops" is rawer, adding a fuzz layer to great effect. "You and your friends can go to Hell" shows that you can create a rich sound texture with even the most basic of set-ups, a song of simple but pure joys. "Bye bye grey sky" probably harks back mostly to their earlier sound as The Cavalcade, a more straight forward pop song with lovely shimmery guitar flourishes.

This is the first of what should be a trio of EPs coming over the next few months, there is some great pop music in store thats for sure.