‘To Conquer’ reminds me of Interpol in the best possible way; recalling restrained emotion and a strange warmth rising from the fuzzy, pulsing instrumentation. There are odd moments during the song where it seems the band are drifting; instead of writing a third verse there is a fairly generic instrumental crescendo leading into a reprise of the chorus which negates much of the nervous energy built up earlier on. However, this fairly minor blemish is not enough to spoil a genuinely atmospheric piece of pop music.

‘Another Night’ is a much more straightforward proposition, recalling R.E.M. in its tuneful sincerity. A heartfelt, beaten-down lament with a nice opening guitar riff and good use of keyboards. There is an element of Snow Patrol-esque guitar trilling histrionics as the song builds to a climax, but they've worked for it and it doesn't sound remotely out of place. Both these tracks show off Samsa's obvious talent for melodic, emotive songwriting and mark them out as ones to keep an eye on in the future.

Alistair Brown

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