Glistening Pleasure - Black Market EP

Label: No Office
Rating: 3 Guns

Written By: Hilary Hughes

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Lately, I’ve been really into music that goes along perfectly with driving with the windows down, and if I look good belting along to the song on the stereo wearing aviator sunglasses with my hair flying around on the highway, it only ups the band’s bad-ass quotient and the album’s likeability in my book. Black Market’s EP passed my highway test with flying colors: the drums are fierce, the guitar is raw, and the tortured quality of the vocals make for a listen perfect for 55mph and over.

It’s no wonder that the talents of Black Market satiate the need for speed: musical influences credited are the Beatles, Bowie and the late great Elliot Smith, and the four-man crew from Lake Havasu do their idols proud with their EP.

Though the EP’s only got a sampling of what Black Market can offer, the six songs included are enough to get you wanting more. Though the songs could differ a bit in their melancholy, angsty airs, each track stands alone: the chops of the lead vocals are showcased in “Bad Call”, “White Lie” is a more subtle, softer song with ear-catching lyrics (“I will live vicariously through myself”: empowering, simple and to the point), and Black Market’s even got a ballad in “Sheila”, which appears not once but twice on the EP as an edited track.

My only complaint? With talent like theirs, along with the backing of star producers like Sean Slade and Matthew Ellard, I would expect an EP to include a more varied selection. Still, though, Black Market’s EP isn’t going anywhere far from my stereo. Driving with the windows down has never felt, or sounded, better.