Artemis launched her career from the original MP3.com and this was one of the first EP’s I was able to buy from the site when I was old enough to wield a card.
“Treasure” leads the EP off as the strong track with its shuffling acoustic guitar beats and background draw organ giving a tinge of Caribbean flavour to the rock track. The slide guitar works very well as the embellishments. Artemis herself as a smooth vocal that never takes over the song but it can certainly hold its on. “Cruel” then daring goes acapella for Artemis to really showcase her vocals properly. This is a soulful blues number and works very well without instruments. It straddles a fine line between vocal gymnastics and passion and by not going overboard on the warbles the track stands out. “Voices” is an acoustic guitar and vocal track that uses some more unusual chord structures to really stand out. It’s quite delicate and beautiful on the surface but slowly more and more minor chords and clashing of notes creeps in and actually the track builds into a powerful ballad. “Rising” keeps the same style but stays more taut as opposed to building up the tension. The EP ends with “Shameless” which see’s a full band return for only the second time and its a blues rock number. It feels like a different recording session as the production feels different but the track is quite catchy with its offbeat mini chord changes in the chorus. There’s much more keyboard production here too hinting at the more electronic route she’d take after this.
Artemis opened up her musical career in the acoustic rock genre before she took on electronica and so for fans this is fun to hear, for the rest of us its a well accomplished EP and the title track is fantastic.