Snack Family are a three piece hailing from London, featuring James Allsopp on Sax/vocals; Tom Greenhalgh on drums and Andrew Plummer on guitar and vocals. We take a look at their new EP – Pokie Eye.

Opener “Lupine Kiss” is a fantastic track. A massive groove topped off with a low-down dirty sounding sax. The lead vocals are….. different. Sort of gravelly and deep but nothing like more mainstream “gravelly” singers (ie the likes of Rod Stewart or Bryan Adams). Much more gravelly – kind of like a white man doing an impersonation of Louis Armstrong or something akin to Tom Waits, this is a very good thing in my book by the way. Snack Family are definitely decent song writers and aren't afraid to have some instrumental trickery in their arrangements.

Second song “Plastic Factory” is cut from a similar cloth – a sleazy groove, gravelly vocals and some nifty sax work. The guitar is a bit more prominent and it’s another great song. You can imagine Snack Family playing in a smoky club (not that anyone can play in smoky club now due to the laws on public smoking – we don’t condone public indoor smoking either kids!).

Next up is “No Reason”, which is a slow atmospheric number featuring some quirky sound effects. Plenty of space in the song gives it a creepy vibe – it almost sounds like it could be taken from a film soundtrack. It showcases the vocal and to be honest was a bit of a slow burner, it took several listens before it grew on me whereas the opening two tracks were much more immediate. The rhythm is provided by a weird scraping sample on repeat as opposed to drums.

Closer “Pokie Eye Poke Ya” is an upbeat stomper and is in a similar vein to the first two songs. However, this track fairly thunders along driven by a great drum beat.

They’re not what I would normally call “my sort of thing” but I love this. Snack Family are a band whose sound you would describe as “low down and sleazy” but they have such a groove about them that 3 of the 4 songs here are eminently danceable. It’s different and well worth investigating – go on give it a whirl.

You can get your filthy hands on a copy of the EP HERE

Review by Adrian Grainger