This seven inch from Regina’s These Estates is a nice little disc. Lyrics, by singer John Cameron, are expansive and literate, painting two tales more akin to short-stories than those commonly penned by pop or post-punk acts. (I can’t tell which category These Estates fall into, as they effectively blur the line between the two camps on these two offerings.) “Soiled Hands” reminds me of a cross between the angrier output of Winnipeg’s Painted Thin and the less straight-forward hardcore of Langley’s Manner Farm, with vocals and guitars bursting with barely controlled rage. “Autumn in a Foreign Country” is more subdued, reminding me of another Winnipeg indie act of the late 90s, the Bonaduces. The vocals and lyrics both steer into that poetic-pop sound that the Bonaduces did so well, and These Estates pull off quite nicely. I’m keen to hear more. (Urban Planning Records, urbanplanningrecords.com) Sheldon Birnie