San-D Godoy's Velvet Engine give us a dazzling Glimpse of the Sun on their radiant debut EP

I doubt the name Velvet Engine will be a new one for many Northamptoners supporting their local scene, you can trace it as far back as early 2008 when the folk pop outfit started out as the solo project for Katie Malco's backing instrumentalist and Black Noise Movement member San-D Godoy. And so she went between Malcoholic commitments - a lone performer making beautiful acoustic music - until the introduction of a second guitarist Matt Philpotts last year. Now, with assistance from cellist Runa Ubillis Ayers and NeonSkies aka Mark Hales, the duo are releasing their heart-warming debut EP Glimpse of the Sun, and boy are you going to need some Factor Forty!

"Who'd have thought that I could have saw a glimpse of the sun?" opens Marling-cum-Dido Godoy for a record filled with romance and heartache alike. Crystalline vocals, mellow guitars and glittering glockenspiels feature throughout from the innocence of Another Colour and Two Winters In A Row to Like A Scar's rootsy sorrow - two great live performers captured on record. The EP rarely lacks: each song different enough to retain its grip without shooting itself in the foot by becoming too bland. This is really quite lovely.

Also available online are a summer-coated remix of Wishing It All Away from Luke Print (not to mention NeonSkies' spine-tingling ten minute epic like a rowing boat drifting eerily across deserted inky waters into a doomed yet delectable ambient haze). So even if Velvet Engine's wide range of collaborators hasn't perhaps been utilised as well as it could be, their debut still manages to span a wide range of artists, genres and audiences as a project that will continue to yeild even more ecclectic, strange but equally as stunning fruits to come.