British modern country music duo Ward Thomas have released their first E.P. A Shorter Story 

By Jane Howkins.

British modern country duo Ward Thomas (consisting of sisters Lizzy and Catherine Ward Thomas) have just released their first E.P. A Shorter Story, which has been eagerly anticipated by fans ever since the fantastic reception that awaited the group’s second album Cartwheels, which came out last year.

It’s interesting that Ward Thomas have decided to release their first E.P. now, having already released two full length albums. In the grand scheme of things, bands tend to produce E.P.s first, but  on the other hand, A Shorter Story acts as a nice little stopgap between more lengthy releases. This may explain the title of the E.P., as well as the length of it, with A Shorter Story consisting of five covers. The songs included are The Blower’s Daughter (Damien Rice), What Goes Around… Comes Around (Justin Timberlake), Shine (Years & Years), Walls (Kings of Leon), and Better Be Home Soon (Crowded House).  It’s quite an eclectic choice of songs, and one that works very well for the duo.

Our particular favourite was the Damien Rice cover of The Blower’s Daughter, which sounds almost better than the original version – something that can be quite rare on records such as this one! Fans of the original artists may not be immediately swayed by these new versions, but over time that is something that might change, as for the most part, Ward Thomas have created something rather special here.

Our only real gripe is that we would have preferred some new material from the band, but if that’s the only real issue we have they must certainly be doing well for themselves, and this E.P. should be enough to tide fans over for now. A Shorter Story is well worth a listen, for both fans of Ward Thomas, and fans of the artists covered on the E.P.