motel void

I have to admit that whenever words like “raw” or “unfiltered” appear in a title, they immediately catch my attention. On this blog, we try as much as possible to highlight music that isn’t overly polished – music that carries a certain roughness and an intangible aura of authenticity. That is exactly the case with the new EP from Fever Fields, the artistic moniker under which artist and producer Duncan Allan releases his richly diverse body of work.

Raw and Unfiltered: Some Demos I, a four-track EP, opens almost humorously with unedited snippet of studio chatter before a beautifully captured acoustic guitar comes in, recalling the earlier work of Bon Iver or José González. Rather than leaning into delicate fingerpicking, however, the song builds around a more driving, unvarnished strumming pattern. At its core is Duncan Allan’s deeply emotive vocal performance, which rarely steps back and keeps the listener fully engaged throughout. It’s raw, heartfelt, and catchy. At moments, it brought to mind Bright Eyes, or even my favorite song Country Feedback by R.E.M..

The following track, 10 Years or So Ago, opens with a lovely riff and carries a noticeably lighter emotional weight. It flows along with an easy, almost laid-back rhythm – one that I could easily imagine expanded by a full band, perhaps even leaning into a slightly jazz-inflected arrangement. The cracked, vulnerable vocal delivery evokes ’90s demo recordings by artists like Elliott Smith and Modest Mouse, and in its rawness, it even recalls early demo-era Nirvana — particularly something like Opinion.

The EP’s second half consists of two significantly longer tracks: Human and the closing Synthesizing Humanity (Live at Fatty’s). Human immediately stands out for its vocal performance, which begins in a cleaner, calmer register before shifting around the two-minute mark into a more emotionally charged surge. When Allan reaches into his higher register, it feels like a striking and refreshing lift. The track carries a distinct road-trip atmosphere. Just two days ago, I watched Bones and All (2022), and some of its images — not the brutal ones, but the wandering shots of desolate American landscapes — evoke a similar mood to the expansive, searching quality that Human sustains over its longer runtime.

The final track differs mainly in its (live) production. It opens with the hum of a club audience before the singing begins and the crowd gradually settles. Although the recording sounds more distant than the previous three tracks, what truly stands out is the heightened intensity in Duncan’s voice. That said, my favorite moment arrives around 1:20, when gentle picking enters and the song shifts into a noticeably softer, almost whispered atmosphere. This dynamic movement – from near-shouted urgency to fragile melody – is deeply compelling and brings to mind the expressive approach of Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel.

Overall, Raw and Unfiltered: Some Demos I is a beautifully imperfect collection of songs. Its strength lies precisely in its looseness – in the unedited edges, the emotional cracks in the voice, and the sense that these recordings capture a moment rather than a finished, polished product.

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This album was discovered via Submit Hub