Fingerprints & Handwriting is an incredibly strong and engaging debut album from two-piece band Edgarville from Blackburn. It’s almost hard to believe the album is built up mostly by two musicians; we’re almost only hearing vocals, acoustic guitar and drums, yet the perfected production of the album gives a full band feel.
The album can be loud when it wants to, with main vocalist Ed’s vocals often shouted as well as sun,g while the guitar is strummed harshly against hard hitting drums. At other times the album is far more tranquil and quiet, often with the use of masterful finger-picking on guitar with silent gaps between notes and beats to emphasise fantastic musical moments – while the drums at times can hide subtly behind the guitar rather than the louder parts of the songs where the drums are played with great force.
Having formerly been in the math/hardcore band Egos at the Door it’s no surprise frontman and guitarist Ed can make this singer/songwriter sound include amazing and interesting guitar playing which is are rarely heard in this genre. Ed doesn’t shy away from aggression in the music in what is a extremely calmer genre than his math rock and hardcore punk roots.
The instrumental parts of the album are full with emotion that you can really feel with every note, as well as being heard in Ed’s vocal performance. Lyrically these songs are both personal and poignant summing up what it is like to be stuck in one’s own mind, covering various states of mental health and emotion.
Fingerprints & Handwriting is a stunning album that is not only musically interesting but lyrically deep. It’s a record to make you think but also a record you can take solace in and relate to when times are hard and anxieties in the world.