EP Review: No Windows - 'The Great Traitor'
The third EP under their belt, ‘The Great Traitor’ is a triumph from Edinburgh duo No Windows.
Despite both being so young, No Windows have already established themselves as one of the most exciting new bands to come out of the Scottish capital. For instrumentalist aficionado Morgan and vocalist and writer Verity, the last few years have been huge. After meeting at school, they released 2 fantastic EPs, ‘Fish Boy’ and ‘Point Nemo’, earned the Sound Of Young Scotland Award at the SAY Awards in 2023 and in 2024 signed to Fat Possum records. Now, this month, they are set to continue on their upwards trajectory with new release ‘The Great Traitor’. A development and expansion of their sonic territory, this EP gives them the space to explore rich 1970’s psychedelic arrangements inspired by the works of Leonard Cohen, George Harrison and Jon Brion. It’s seen them grow up, moving out of Morgan’s homegrown set up and into a studio space that gave them room to play and try new things. While still having all the familiar indie charm of past releases, ‘The Great Traitor’ marks a levelling up and evolution, both in terms of production value but also in subject matter and theme.
The six tracks each offer insight into the ways the pair have grown and changed in the last few years. For opening track ‘Brown Bear’ and halfway point ‘Tricky’, this comes in the form of relationships breaking down. Both written in a single sitting in 2023, the two songs are a time capsule of everything Verity was feeling in the wake of a whirlwind romance.
‘This person had just left my flat, and I was like, oh my God, I think I'm falling in love. I listened to the demos and wrote those two songs in literally half an hour … We broke up a few weeks later, but it's very sweet to me. It's nice to look back on how I felt about that person without it being tinged by time.’
The instrumentation on the track fits the sense of nostalgia that No Windows are trying to capture here. ‘Brown Bear’ is embellished with brass sections and glittering chimes and ‘Tricky’ is grounded in a fingerpicking guitar line, both exuding warmth and whimsy. On vocals Verity is gentle and inviting as she murmurs lyrics like ‘God I love it, strip me down naked, I wanna be your favourite patient’, almost cheekily bringing listeners in. It’s the sonic personification of softness and familiarity and you can’t help but fall in love, just as she did back then.
‘The Great Traitor’ often explores the idea of dreams versus reality-whether that be through its pensive lyrics or innovative and creative mixing and musicality. Listening time and time again, you really begin to appreciate how much thought has been put into striking the right balance between the murky indie rock style that No Windows have cultivated together and tapping into a new aesthetic informed by the sounds from worlds beyond our own. Penultimate track, ‘Old Chain Pier’ epitomises this, bringing melodious harmony to a mix of techniques and styles from all over, resulting in a track that simply feels timeless. From the light and vulnerable vibrato on Verity’s opening lyrics to the piano line, everything is performed in a way that gives the sense of it being from a memory or an old film. There is a fuzziness around the edges - it’s clear enough that you can hear it but just far away enough that it is out of reach. Compared to other tracks where instruments and the voice is played straight without distortion, on ‘Old Chain Pier’ you listen through rose-tinted headphones. The song builds into an explosion of sound complete with cascading harmonies and brass that transports you to a tranquil psychedelic dreamscape only to have it fade away at the end. After all, it was all just a dream (or was it?).
The EP comes at a hugely transitional period for both No Windows as a band and as the two as individuals. The songwriting coincided with Verity starting and adjusting to life at university and Morgan grappling with the process of deciding to drop out. They both have expressed that 2024 specifically felt like the transition from adolescence to adulthood and that sentiment rings true throughout ‘The Great Traitor’. Though it largely picks up from where they left off with ‘Point Nemo’, lead single ‘Return’ perhaps is the biggest insight into how much has changed for the pair. Written from the perspective of Verity still at school, it chronicles her coming to terms with and understanding her autism diagnosis. It is a song about evolution; the journey she has been on and the newfound confidence that she and Morgan feel towards everything. Musically, it begins in a place that is quite dark and dissonant, characterised by alluring and sinister guitars. It slowly but surely becomes something sunnier though with a delicate ferocity and strength. The music video for the track takes place in a forest which feels wonderfully poetic and apt. Taking charge of the story, Verity and by extension No Windows have broken out of the castle of adolescence and insecurity and after a frightening but enlightening trip through the trees and dirt that have confined them for so long, they break out into the night sky with the moon lighting their way to a new future.
Like all great coming of age stories, the end is anything but certain and as alluded to on final track ‘Easter Island’, who knows what awaits us all when we wake from this dream. There is one thing for certain though: a snapshot in time, ‘The Great Traitor’, unlike what the band’s name would let you believe, is the perfect window into what it feels like to be growing up today. What their future holds is sure to be exciting and with a handful of concert dates lined up over the coming months, the only way of knowing is to listen along.
Words by Kirsty-Ann Thomson
