I love EPs, even though there are so many reasons to hate them. EPs are generally overpriced CDs which contain only one good track. They rarely include rare songs that will never be released again (hellllllooooo box sets). A lot of recent EPs just seem to be remixes, too, and for the most part, I despise remixes of rock songs. Yet lately I’ve gotten two excellent EPs, which remind me of just how exciting a good EP can be. The first one was from Kanine Records’ Professor Murder, and the second is the eerie night sounds of Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Cursed Sleep.

While the title track, “Cursed Sleep” – from the upcoming Then the Letting Go – is an aching melodic sojourn into the fog of an October night that should steal the entire disc, it’s the day of the dead skeleton rattle of second song “The Signifying Wolf” which builds LP excitement for this reviewer. The instruments of “Wolf” capture and entrap a listener faster than a camp of bloodthirsty Aztecs, while Billy aches with more bravado than Indiana Jones could ever dream of…until his inevitable descent into howling animal madness. “The Signifying Wolf” alone is worth that $6.98. And while the languid desert of closer “God’s Small Song” doesn’t have quite the same fire, it is a much-needed moment of relaxation, where the listener can put away that six shooter full of premium silver bullets and try to get their hands to stop shaking.

The three tracks of Cursed Sleep make it necessary to scramble around, looking for a calendar to mark in anticipation for the release on Stormy Records.

Reviewed by Megan Giddings