Monsters & I

There’s a certain audacity about the Rags. After all, bands at this stage in their careers are supposed to be finding their feet, putting out demos with one good track and a couple of fillers in a photocopied sleeve. They’re not due to be on their second EP of beautifully crafted, elegantly presented music. ‘Monsters & I’ ups the ante still further on their hugely impressive debut by turning up the confidence and the volume. Indeed there are moments on the title track and ‘Strawberry Bed’ where they sound like some raging metal band, tempered elsewhere by touches of hushed atmospherics. Two EPs, seven stunning tracks and this is only supposed to be an introduction? The mind boggles