Halifax-based project Velour on Tap maps a “Maritime Gothic” psychogeography of the North Atlantic on debut EP Cruel Harbour, blending jangly indie-rock textures with vivid storytelling. Ian D. Brimacombe’s songwriting explores isolation, nostalgia, and the peculiar encounters found within coastal and small-town landscapes.
“Hourglass Lake Ahead” opens the EP with absorbing allure, weaving steady acoustic strums and jangly, free-flowing instrumentation as Brimacombe’s lead delivery laments an inability “to catch a break.” The imagery of “cottage country” and how “you will meet the locals, once they know your name” crafts a small-town setting, while Emilie-Rose’s melodic harmonies dazzle during the memorable chorus: “Break all your plates tonight, enjoy the dance of the dead / Follow the signs to the right, Hourglass Lake ahead.” A rollicking guitar solo ensues, with the track enveloping in both its dynamic rock sound and lyrical themes, portraying the claustrophobic beauty of a remote cottage community where familiar landscapes reveal stories of exhaustion, isolation, and peculiar encounters among those left behind.
Another fantastic track, “Sand in the Hardest Shell” ruminates on “days that glowed” with retrospective charm, moving from subdued acoustic shimmers into an expanse of textured jangling and Emilie-Rose’s harmonic entrance, pairing with Brimacombe’s resonant lead as they intone: “We found sand in the hardest shell / Dropping coins in a dirty well.” Brimacombe has described the project’s goal as creating “the salty poetry anthology left on a table at the working man’s bar at the port,” and this particular piece of songwriting is lovably exemplary of such. The other tracks also compel, from the sense of adventure conveyed in “Gas Station Map” to the stirring finale “Eagles Have Angles,” which traces both leaving behind a stagnant past and the unreliability of perception. Cruel Harbour is an impactful EP from Velour on Tap, achieving a jangly, poetic prowess throughout.
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