While out for my so-called ‘government mandated’ two hours of outside time and exercise a few days ago (and let’s be honest two hours of dedicated exercise is something unfamiliar to most of us, even now) it struck me that while I have always enjoyed Teaspoonriverneck’s two EPs Sunset’s Trip and IV I hadn’t actually had the opportunity to write dedicated reviews of either on their release, so I figured I’d continue my series of occasional reviews of older records with them.

Falling third and (appropriately) fourth in the band’s official discography after their self-titled debut and Craft Of Lisia mini-album and before their last record Do It Again these releases bridge the ‘classic line up’ of the band (vocalist and bass player Steve Lynch, guitarist Jon Langlois and drummer Brett Stewart) and the next iteration that saw Lynch switch to guitar and Ian Allsopp join on bass (though the actual recordings here still feature the earlier line up, Allsopp did work on the production side on both).

With that, while the two EPs have their own unique identities, they still retain the heavy groove rock ‘n’ roll sound that was the band’s trademark.

Released in summer 2009 and comprised of three tracks Sunset’s Trip often feels like the band’s most overlooked release, and certainly the songs on it have featured the least in the their live set over the years.

In some ways it is something of an eccentric aside to their brand of heavier groovy stoner rock, though there’s still plenty of that on offer too.

The title of the collection sets the scene before Sundial launches out the gates apace with a darkly hedonistic blast of typically fuzzy hard rock.

The track feels like a motorbike tearing along the coast at dusk before crashing headlong into a booze and drug fuelled night of summery misdemeanours, complete with ‘home made cider and the wind in the trees’ – if this had come out a few years later I’d think it the heaviest song ever written about the early years of the Sark Folk Festival.

Saw The Low slows the pace considerably but again captures a similar mood, albeit in a far more intimate vein, bringing things down to a deeply personal continuation of the events of Sundial with a kind of stoner glam tinge (complete with handclaps) thrown in for good measure on top of a hypnotic groove.

Sunset’s Trip is then wrapped up by the band’s most eccentric offering, Hunting.

With lead vocal duties taken by drummer Brett Stewart (who elsewhere provides the odd backing vocal) it goes into territory similar to Melvins and, according to Brett, is his attempt at doing something a bit Mike Patton.

That said it still fits in along side the rest of the EP as maybe that moment when the whole night the first two songs feel like become a bit too much and early morning confusion sets in.

Less than a year after the release of Sunset’s Trip, IV (generally pronounced as ‘Ivy’ rather than ‘4’) was unleashed on the world and at the time felt like the band restating their claim as one of the Channel Islands’ heaviest acts.

Kicking off with a rumbling bass and drums line that sounds like it’s coming from a deep dark cave, the belligerence of Pissing On My Wall is instantly more brooding than anything on the previous EP, more clearly feeling like a follow on in style to Craft Of Lisia.

Crow In The Road then blasts the walls down, following in the footsteps of Eaten By The Devil and Gideon And The Black Jaws in hitting Teaspoonriverneck’s heaviest and slowest point in a way seemingly custom built to inspire banging heads and darkly hued singalongs simultaneously.

The pace picks up again with the brilliantly named Michael Drugless which is possibly my longstanding highlight of this set.

Much like the first two tracks on Sunset’s Trip there’s a real narrative drive to this one as we follow the apparent titular character through a seedy quest in search of, well it’s probably obvious from the title, all wrapped up in the form of a fuzz-punk banger.

Medicine Dance then wraps things up with another swirling slice of desert groove stoner rock that feels like a night out on the sand around a campfire.

It goes from a faster paced opening into a deep groove of an instrumental section that shows a side of the band slightly different to everything they’d done before and is a great resolution for this set as clean and fuzzy sounds layer up for a head filling crescendo.

If you know me you’ll know that I don’t really think there’s a duff note anywhere in Teaspoonriverneck’s back catalogue and, while often overlooked for the earlier records now, these two EPs remain testament to that and if you like your music heavy and groovy they are both great places to look.

Both EP’s, along with the rest of the band’s back catalogue, remain available via Bandcamp