Drawing influence from artists like Elliott Smith and Yung Lean, London Metal is the new lo-fi folk EP from Honor Saint Williams.

By Graeme Smith

London Metal is a collection of only four tracks and eight minutes, but there’s a depth to it that makes it feel like a whole lot more. For it, London-based Honor Saint Williams has stripped things right back. He doesn’t hide behind production, and not even much of an instrumental. Opening track, GOOD BOY, gives us delicate acoustic guitar only to accompany his soft, introspective vocals.

Things continue in much the same vein from there. Nyc proves a highlight thanks to its steady rhythm and storytelling lyrics. There’s a languidness to it that feels somehow uplifting. THE IDIOT adds in some ethereal layers before ANTIQUE EYES closes the record in melancholic style.

The sound that Honor Saint Williams gives us in his new EP feels like one that was lost to time. Once par for the course in ’90s and ’00s Midwestern folk, it’s been somewhat subsumed by highly polished pop. Still, it never went anywhere, and this collection is proof. It’s just what we need right now, I think.

London Metal is out now and you can give it a listen below.