This is the best concept EP about a night out that we’ve ever heard - it’s bright, it’s poppy, it’s electro-acoustic dance-music stroppy!
Or is it?
Is there a darkness on the edge of town? Will it turn out that we really should have stayed at home after all?
Big hair?
High heels?
Is that all you ever wanted?
So sang Maeve Florsheim... once upon a time... Princess Blues was the song. Everyday People the band. They were a five-piece, and then a three-piece, and now they’re a duo - a duo going by the name of Lucky Iris!
And here’s one of Maeve's more recent lyrics. In fact, it's a lyric from this very EP…
I want to be seen
like on the cover
of a glossy magazine
Is there some theme here? Is this something threaded through her songwriting soul? Some deep yearning? Some secret desire to become a pop princess, a disco diva, a precocious maiden of the mainstream? Well, in all fairness to her, she does possess that elusive, so slightly gritty, jazz-loungey smooth voice of, say, a young Norah Jones. And so, well-armed to the battle she goes.
Lucky Iris! A duo you say? Yes… and we all know, that behind every great duo, there’s usually a musical genius. Here, that job falls to Jasper Exley; consummate organ grinder, multi-instrumentalist, astute arranger, and all-round musical rocket-scientist. He's created a dynamic, multi-faceted magpie; stealing from R&B, soul, jazz - anything to create the alt-pop, hi-fi/lo-fi, electro/acoustic sound the pair were after.
One highlight for me is their song Take Five. The original Take Five is, of course, one of the world's great jazz standards. Written by legendary saxophonist Paul Desmond, its famously unusual 5/4 time signature provides Maeve some space for a little lyrical riffing around the quirky beat.
The playlist took you hours to make
But all you can do is recall the track names
Can you even sing the tune to Take Five?
Can you even clap along in time?
I mean! Come on mate!
What cartwheeling triumph of gravity and waggery would have ensued had Jasper then swung them musically into a 5/4 change of rhythm. Sadly, the walking bass remains resolutely locked into its 4/4 stride; explained, argumentatively, by the lyric that follows.
I say screw you 5/4 time signatures
And your vintage fashion
Cuz if you put that time into being more nice
You’d be the sultan of friendship… Babe!
Yes, Maeve and Jasper are not everyday people! Likewise, the four songs on this EP are not everyday tunes. Instead, they're little stories, tiny vignettes, small explosions of exactitude that tell of a simple night out on the town. From anticipation and expectation, through exuberance and euphoria, then sadly into isolation and eventual reflectiveness and regret. As a whole, this EP displays grace, wit, and elegance in a wonderful arc of coherence. It’s a story we’ve all lived some version of… though not too many of us will ever have philosophised over an evenings entertainment to quite the same extent as these two do here.  
So, the question remains...
Should they have stayed at home?
Of course not!
But, maybe they should have gone to Sheffield, not Leeds!
For more about LUCKY IRIS here are their social links
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