ABERDEEN’s newest export, Sweet White have achieved a great deal in their first year together as a band, culminating in the recent release of their exhilarating new EP, Monet. The 5-piece have already been compared to the likes of Foals and Peace and though their sound does resonate with groovy guitar lines and solid bass-work there’s a lot, lot more to Sweet White than these initial likenesses give them credit for.

Opening track ‘Tides’ is Indie-rock at its very best. It’s wildly accomplished given the relative youth of the band and as the track flits between jangling guitar riffs and a stadium-sized chorus that Liam Gallagher would be more than happy to sing it feels as though Sweet White may just have written a bit of a banger… listen to the track below.

Throughout the EP there is an expansive and ambient atmosphere which swirls around piercing lead guitars and a central vocal which sounds brilliantly nonchalant especially on ‘Good Time’, a track which ripples upwards from delayed keys and layered vocals. The Foals influence can definitely be heard and there’s a Stone Roses vibe kicking about in there too. Sweet White come out punching with a sound that is entirely their own and by the end of ‘Good Time’, the band have broken down into doomy, riff-laden outro which sounds like Humbug-era Arctic Monkeys.

Title track ‘Monet’ is heavy on the synths and Jungle-esque rhythm work but Sweet White’s roots are planted firmly in the alternative-indie genre, and it seems like that’s exactly where they want to be. With a chorus that sounds like Kasabian time-travelling and a verse bassline and vocal melody combination which is effortlessly engrossing ‘Monet’ sounds utterly huge at points.

EP closer ‘Dazin’ continues along a similar path; brooding undertones tremble beneath a funky exterior before the EP’s best moment by a mile, a slow-build outro which descends into sonic bliss, guitars writhe in distortion on a genuinely epic scale and it’s brilliant.

Sweet White are a band who know exactly where they stand, their influences are worn on their sleeves but they’ve gone and made those sleeves into a patchwork quilt that even Monet would be proud of.