The marvellously named Cat Meat have made a new four track digital EP, Scarlet Belle, available for free via their Bandcamp page.

Despite the connotations conjured up by the name, the band actually play an exquisite blend of sorrowful folk and alt-country, expertly utilising guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, violin and musical saw in ways that call to mind Sparklehorse, Wilco and the ghosts of long-gone delta bluesmen.

Try the six minute gentle swell of Lungfish below, a truly gorgeous song and the fabulously eerie Goodnight Miss Belle, a sweeping mournful murder ballad telling the tale of a young drunk’s ill-fated dalliance with the town harlot.

Highly recommended.

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