Hailing from Ireland, Michael Cleare has created My Brother Woody. There is no band - he is the band, and he's previously de-camped to the States to do some recording. San Francisco, in particular. Sounding familiar?

The songs on the self-titled seven track EP are nice enough, but there's nothing there that offers real quality. Part of the problem is probably Michael's voice, which is anything but strong on the recording. It's passable, but that's not enough when you haven't got punk/metal guitars to drown you out.

Essentially, the style is very much influenced by the likes of the Beach Boys and other jingle-jangle melody-drenched bands (remember the Supernaturals?). The songs plod along at mid-tempo and are in places very Lennon-esque (not John - Sean!). Highlights include the brighter 'Everyday' and final track 'Moonshine'. The latter is a short, harmony drenched, sleepy affair that ends the EP on a relative high - it's just a shame that this isn't quite high enough.