These Columbus cats can do no wrong! After I just posted about Connections covering one of my favorite Christmas songs, and that right after the band released a new EP called 5 Imaginary Boys, the dudes in Connections have up and gone and released a free EP today on Christmas Eve. Called Missed, this 7-song release is yet another damn fine offering from these guys, and in the same year that they released perhaps their best album so far (Into Sixes).
On Missed, the band sound loose and the charms of a song like "Girl" are precisely in the tune's fleeting nature. Over before it begins, the cut channels The Beatles by way of lo-fi champs like Sebadoh. It's a blast. "Palomine" gets all twangy and hints at early Pavement. "Hey Eddie Ray" might be short but it's one of the best tracks Connections have released in 2014...and that's saying something given their prolific output. Opening like "Happy"-era Rolling Stones, the song quickly switches into a singalong jam with a hook as big as an Oasis tune. Really, everything I like about these Columbus cats is here. "Another Home by the Sea", a sort of follow-up to a cut on Into Sixes, is delightfully mournful and world-weary but charming all the same. Closer "This Year's Shout" channels Guided by Voices but with a trace of menace.
I could write about all the cuts on Missed by Connections but it'd be easier if you just went and got the EP from the band yourself.
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