Gambles – I Can’t Keep Still When It Comes To You EP

However, quite unfortunately, all anyone really seems to care about is that his day job is working as Beyoncé’s creative consultant. Yes, how anyone gets a gig like that is mind boggling, so I sympathise with your intrigue. That being said, the air of wonder around the fact that this guy is actually on first name terms (he might have even touched her) with the woman herself takes away from the beauty of his own music - and it is beautiful.

Siskin began his music journey with an impressive debut LP which landed last year. The release focused on weather-worn acoustic grumbles and the aforementioned voice which seeps with melancholic emotion; a sound not dissimilar to that of Denver native Nathaniel Rateliff’s. However, for his latest effort Gambles has swapped much of the folk troubadour musings and acoustic guitars of his debut for senescent synths and electronics. This shift in sound can be partly attributed to BOOTS, who produced half of Beyoncé’s last album and who has managed to lend his skills to this release. Siskin describes him as a “painter”, who has “found these hidden moments, little sonic textures” within the record – it is this helping hand that sets I Can’t Keep Still When It Comes To You apart from debut LP Trust.

Beginning the EP is “You Won’t Remind It”, which offers the first exhibition of Gambles’ new electronically hued new style. The track begins with “boom bap” drums, pulsating industrial electronics and home-taped crackle – apparently the track was recorded with an old keyboard, drums playing through a computer and all recorded on Siskin’s iPhone; although the acoustics may be gone the influence of folk styles and techniques are still apparent, even if they’ve gone digital. The tuneis the clear focus of the entire EP, as well as the most complete and rounded song on the release.

“The Sea” brings things back a step with light strumming of guitar, harking back to Trust, but still with found sounds and nuances courtesy of BOOTS. “City’s Song” and “Nola” offer much of the same – home recorded folk-y musings which don’t stretch too far from Gambles’ old material, but are beautiful nonetheless. The EP on the whole doesn’t stray too far from previous material, but its opening track’s inclusion of electronics will surely feature more heavily in future releases now it has been tested here.

Not only has Siskin released the record, but he’s created an experimental website in which you can post anything anywhere on the page – a sort of poetry sharing site. With this amount of ideas on show, once can see why he caught Beyonce’s eye.