Sydney duo Toucan have released their enjoyable new EP Brave New World. The duo consists of singer Jess Pollard and multi instrumentalist Shea Duncan. Together, Toucan create some very likable and enjoyable sounds on their debut five track debut.

Kicking off with the excellent title track, the band display many musical flavors and versatility over the course of four tracks. There is a beautiful jazz feel winding its way through the tracks, along with the piano lines, sequences and samplers. “Age Of Consequence” is a particularly striking track, showing what the band can do.

The production does, at times, sound a bit too cluttered, like too many ideas were tried and shoved in to the mix.”On The Run” is particularly guilty of this. Not that there is anything wrong with ambition. This is obviously still a band exploring sonic and lyrical worlds.

Also, the remix of the title track is boring, cliched and completely unnecessary. It reminds of the early to mid nineties, where it was almost mandatory to provide a remix of a single.

Overall, this is a promising debut from a rather charming duo.

– Neil Evans

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