Jim Muir Slideshow By Michelle Dee

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It's the packaging that catches the eye first that and the fact you have to slice open the CD envelope with a sharp implement. Due to the popularity of the first EP, I have only the second two before me. The Slideshow are storytellers first and foremost. Jim Muir began writing the songs during 2000 and 2001. He says that he writes to keep his sanity intact; when he is not moonlighting as a singer songwriter he is a fully qualified G.P. For professional reasons he cannot expand on his medical career suffice to say he is party to all the highs and lows such a position affords.

The second E.P. opens with a track titled, After the fireworks. It deals with the inevitable come down from a night of excess; moreover it attempts to explore the shifting, changing sands, as you get older.

The line and there's no Ecstasy left to save us can be read as a metaphor for now is the time when you can no longer ignore life's responsibilities. Now is the time when you must face up to them and deal with them soberly with a clear head. The last line of the song lingers in your head, what are you going to tell your children. Is it an accusation, almost berating you for those high old times? Or is it just to highlight the issue and then left for you to decide.

There are intriguing little snippets of thoughts expressed after the song titles, they do not immediately explain the songs theme or meaning nor are they lyrics from the songs themselves. They sit rather like half formed lines of poetry that gently teases open the conscious mind.

The third CD opens with a startling electronic vocal announcing Every Cliche's True. The track progresses using layered harmonies, when the guitars finally burst in during the rousing chorus it's like a damn dam breaking. The sound harks back to early Embrace, flooded with memories of warm summers spent with friends, hugging, laughing and feeling good about life. The middle track on the third EP is the standout track for me. It bravely deals with the misdirected grief when Diana died.

The mass hysteria that gripped the nation was fuelled by a relentless media machine telling everyone how to feel. This theme sits alongside a very personal but simple tale that outlines the patterns of grief.

The song asks the prickly question, why didn't you cry for your Dad like you did Diana. All those tears wasted on someone lets face it, you didn't really know. Jim explained to me that his friends in India were totally dumb founded at the way the whole country reacted. He said it was more shocking, than the way, grieving widows sometimes throw themselves on loved ones funeral pyres in his home country. This one if chosen to be a single could well be the surprise hit of the summer. The whispery vocals are not unlike Thom Yorke or Travis's Fran Healy.

Although that may just be the Scots connection making itself heard. The songs are well crafted with a certain eye for experimentation and detail.

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