Now the Jackson, Mississippi project is back with Just Peachy, a brand new EP which picks up where the previous one let off. Almost literally in fact, with opening track ‘Halfway Standing – Reprise’ a continuation of the final track on Stalled Out. A short and sweet slice of country rock complete with pedal steel which finds its narrator at a moment of tortured indecision. A person unsure whether to go back or move on, the titular image evoking that suspension between two states and the internal conflict which results.

After ‘Perch Creek’ with its woozy organ and classic country wistfulness, ‘Head in the Sand’ shakes things up with something more dark and brooding. The track retains the romance of its predecessor but coats it in a newfound attitude and edge, confronting a deterioration of communication within a relationship and thus, inevitably, the relationship itself. There’s a sense of invention too, the sound prone to shifts in mood, something with carries through into the equally atmospheric ‘Don’t Tell Me’. Another example of Rose Haven Motor Hotel’s ability to present conflicted emotions so succinctly.

But it is closer ‘Just Fine, Thanks’ that encapsulates the release as a whole. An apparent return to something more laid-back and easy-going, though the languid rhythms bely the emotional landscape upon which the track, and inside the entire EP, is built. “I’m doing just fine,” the chorus insists, though scratch the surface and you’ll soon see through the claim. The embodiment of a release which digs into the gap between outward appearance and the actual truth. Things might appear just peachy, but hasn’t life always got too much going on for that to be true?

Just Peachy is out now and available from the Rose Haven Motor Hotel Bandcamp page.

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As the title suggests, ‘Blue Moon’ occupies the classic end of the country spectrum too, a song of slow consideration which plays like the calm night between changing days, while ‘Take It Home’ sits closer to acts like Sinai Vessel with its indie influences. But it is ‘Switchblade’ which is perhaps the standout. A worthy addition to the current alt-country revival, fitting somewhere into that post-Drive By Truckers movement of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman. “Waking up in the middle of the road / six-thirty in the morning, little blood on your nose,” Atkinson sings in the opening lines, “65mph in a school zone / you said you didn’t mind, as long as you didn’t know.” A clear introduction to the track’s dicey bravado, where only desperate confidence stands between the narrator and the walls caving in.

You say I switched up
well if that’s true
you can call me switchblade
I don’t have to call you

Things Don’t Stay is out now and available from the Rose Haven Motor Hotel Bandcamp page.

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