Stealing Sheep - Into The Diamond Sun

Femme-fronted folky psychedelia that keeps you guessing with analogue electronica, bongos and more thrown into a mixing bowl. Will it rise?

Just six months after their first EP hit the playlists of every cool indie fan, all-girl Liverpudlian trio Stealing Sheep present a debut album that’s full of surprises.

Born in a cafe above a shop in 2010, Stealing Sheep are electronica girl Becky Hawley, Krautrock lover Emily Lansley and freak-folk fan Lucy Mercer.

Each contributes separate songs on the album, their tuneful three-part harmonies a constant thread as you’re led through a disarmingly alluring amalgam of lo-fi electro-folk (Shut Eye), dour marching band-driven alt-folk (White Lies) and girl-group handclaps with added bongos (Genevieve).

Recorded in a lo-fi studio that “stank of drains”, this is a surprisingly well put-together, atmospheric - and decidedly psychedlic - melting pot.

Circles is a particular triumph, finger-picked electric guitar and bells leaping between rhythms and moods, the girls softly chanting ‘Those buzzing bees, those blowing trees, they bother me now,’ like a cult. Weirdly great.

4 stars