Based out of Charlottetown – called the “Birthplace of Confederation” for its historical role – on Prince Edward Island, Canada, The North Lakes sound like a band in a hurry. Releasing a debut “album” which is just 26 minutes long generally means a band is either a hardcore punk outfit or they’re sneaking out an EP with a few more tracks than usual.

Here it’s the latter case; rather than the likes of Minor Threat, this band instead take inspiration from classic rock sounds, although this implies no lack of urgency, commencing as they do with the barnstorming and aptly-titled ‘Bravado’.

In a thoroughly pleasant way, Cobra positively breezes by. These songs are short and unintrusive but always fun, blessed as The North Lakes are with a knack for carefully deployed vocal hooks and instrumental flourishes. ‘Cold Ottawa Wind’ displays these abilities admirably, especially in its slightly tense and nervy chorus, married to guitars with a slight country twang.

Where The North Lakes really strike gold is on closer ‘Odessa’. Although the guitar-spanned atmospheric chasms and insistent beat are satisfying enough, it takes the song’s transfixing and and momentarily almost Bloc Party-esque climax to really grab the attention.

In that sense, ‘Odessa’ and to a certain extent ‘Gutter’ represent a microcosm of Cobra as a wider work; intriguing and fundamentally accomplished from the first moments, but taking until the last gasp to really hit a powerful stride. It seems a little odd to promote this promising but short (and ultimately quite limited work) as an album. Perhaps with one or two of the less striking songs dropped, it might have made an enticing pre-album EP prospect. But as Cobra is being given away digitally, this is still a set of songs with potential to pique the interest of more than a few alt rock listeners far beyond the band’s distant home.