Many of you will know Steve Vantsis as Fish's collaborator on his last album, 13th Star, which was the big mans best and most consistent album since 1989's Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors. Since the partnership dissolved last year, Steve has been beavering away on his new project, Tilt, along with Dave Stewart on drums, guitarist Robin Boult and Irvin Duguid on keyboards. The bands first offering is this, the Million Dollar Wound ep, which also features contributions from guitarmen Frank Usher and John Wesley and vocalists Paul Dourley, Kaela Rowan, Holly Tomás and Lorna Bannon.

It kicks off with No Superman, a grand and classic rocker somewhat in the vein of Audioslave's Cochise, with vocalist Paul Dourley providing the Chris Cornell like vocals, and Frank Usher dazzling with the guitar solo. The single Long Gone is next and showcases the vocal talents of Kaela Rowan, with her delicate voice and the acoustic guitar lend this a classic All About Eve feel, which the guitar break at the end does nothing to dispel.

The next track is the quiet Gravity, sung by the impressive Holly Tomás, with the acoustic guitar and vocals gradually being augmented by piano, strings drum and electric guitar. This is followed by Answers which sees the return of Paul Dourley singing over a spacier track than the others. Plenty of darts and dives keeps the interest going in this track.

The final track, Adore again features Holly Tomás over a haunting track, reminiscent of Japan perhaps. Her stunning vocals are perfectly balanced against the wonderful instrumentation provided by the band, and the crescendo of the track is the perfect way to close the ep.

It's not often that you find an album so well written and performed, and yet interesting as well! This is an excellent debut from Tilt, and I really look forwards to hearing more from the band in the near future.

The album is available from www.milliondollarwound.co.uk as well as iTunes and Amazon.

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