Amsterdamers Lee Mason (it’s a band, not a guy) have self-released a 5-song e.p. of melodic country-inflected music for your listening pleasure. The four-piece band is comprised of veterans of the Amsterdam music scene, and as such, what you get are well-crafted and well-played songs by a group of musicians who are working well together. Well. The opener, “Palace”, is a downbeat piece that is driven by its vocal harmonies, and is somewhat reminiscent of Low. “Pool” comes more from the Steve Earle side of songwriting, dirty rocking dark country with a menacing acoustic guitar pulsing at the heart of the band, and augmented by some thumping percussion. Again the vocal harmonies are there, but they’re working more as howls and growls on this one. “Dish” begins as one of those acoustic versions of hit songs that guitar bands of the nineties used to do, but swells towards the finish with a nice horn line that works well with the lead vocals, before a gentle and fragile ending rounds the song out. With “Fucking Tree” the band move into a quick-but-not-too-quick country lilt, and a nice trumpet part that duets with the singer to even better effect than on “Dish”. The tree itself is a willow, by the way, and I’m not entirely sure why we’re fucking it, or maybe we’re just angry with it, but anyway, never mind, look what you have done, I’ve put the kettle on. The album ends with “Dry”, a simple and meditative introspection that wins further awards from your humble reviewer for its use of trumpet.