RESTOCK. You could say that Nathan, Brian, and Jon have each had their share of alcohol problems in the past. With enough hindsight and sobriety to make this undertaking a possibility, but not quite enough to forget the emotions stirred up by the booze, The Alcohol EPs is a collection of short releases by each artist, containing songs influenced by or written under the influence of alcohol. Rivulets is the project of displaced Alaskan Nathan Am, who now calls Duluth, MN home. His appearance on The Alcohol EPs follows his 2002 debut album on Chair Kickers' Union, and his 2002 EP release on BlueSanct. Rivulets' steady touring regiment has given Nathan ample time and appropriate atmospheres to hone his craft of writing quiet, alcohol-inspired laments in the vein of Nick Drake, perhaps Jandek versus Jackson Browne at his most melancholy. Remora is best known for forays into aggressive ambient and post-punk atmospheric drone. However on this collection of songs, Brian John Mitchell (Remora) sheds the effects in favor of acoustic guitars and performs stripped down misery ballads that mix one part Willie Nelson's ruggedness to two parts Michael Gira's desolation. It's a completion of some of the songwriting ideas hinted at on last year's Some Past's Future full-length & Some Future's Past EP. The Alcohol EPs marks the first appearance of Jon DeRosa's Pale Horse and Rider. DeRosa picks up where his previous acoustic projects have left off. A departure from his experimental work with Aarktica, Pale Horse and Rider works under the model of classic country tinged with themes of modern alienation. It seems DeRosa truly feels at home in the bar atmosphere, perhaps because he lives right upstairs from one. Classic songwriting, influenced by Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.