If you thought that the Stargazer EP was going to be anything like The Fold's previous two albums, may I please humbly suggest that you leave those expectations at the door. This is not The Fold you know. All four of the EP's tracks are either mostly or in part electronic, quite a diversion from what The Fold are used to doing. The project itself is actually experimental, and was released to in part pay for their earlier European tour.

When listening to "Spark Match Crush," it's very clear that this EP will fully justify its "experimental" intentions. As indie as the overall feel is, though, it actually grows on you in a remarkably short amount of time; indeed, when it ended, I was left wishing that they had fleshed out the song a bit more. "Good Goodnight" is unabashedly more electronic, and yet just as intriguing as "Spark Match Crush." This track is probably the most accessible on the entire EP, yet still retains that fascinating indie quality about it- underproduced, not always musically fluid, and less predictable than anything that's popular on the radio, making every verse, chorus and bridge a new discovery. Following on, "I Know You Well" is a more unusual electronic offering than "Good Goodnight." Personally, I found the chorus to be a bit hard to like, but otherwise it's a good example of how electronica should be done. Further exploiting the experimental nature of the EP, "Little Girl" is barely electronic at all. It could almost be called acoustic, except for the presence of synth strings. A beautiful song in its own right, I found that Dan Castady's vocals were annoyingly whiny compared to the rest of the EP, or even The Fold's previous two albums. Experimental perhaps, but in my mind it's a bit too much.

Taking the entire Stargazer EP into consideration, it is experimental, but as a whole I think The Fold have achieved what they set out to do. Creative, complex, different, clever… these are a few of the words that come to mind. The title itself, "Stargazer," suits the expansive, space-like quality of the music. As it is only an experimental EP, this will not be the way their sound will be turning in the near future; probably a good thing, as they comfortably fit in their current genre and do well in it. However, The Fold have done very well with the Stargazer EP, and have clearly proven that they don't have to limit themselves stylistically.

- Review date: 10/29/08, written by Adam Dawson of Jesusfreakhideout.com