If The Pineapple Thief’s fifteenth studio album It Leads To This was an exercise in self-restraint, striking a more concise balance between their prog-rock aspirations and alt.rock sensibilities, then this follow-up EP is proof that none of their creative juices were sacrificed in the process.
More melancholic in execution, the tracks of Last To Run feel like a perfect counterpoint to the more driven energies It Leads To This tapped into, picking up almost perfectly from album closer To Forget.
Across five tracks, Bruce Soord and co. weave a melodious blanket that is both comforting and all-encompassing with melancholic overtures and gorgeous instrumental passages.
That doesn’t mean Last To Run isn’t without its bold, brash moments, either; The World To Me has breakouts of strident energy befitting prog’s more arena-prone behemoths, while the riffs of closer No Friend Of Mine have an angular choppiness that makes it feel like Shellac as reimagined by Porcupine Tree.
