Dare we say that Pete and The Lairy Pranksters known as Babyshambles sound super together on The Blinding EP? We got bored with keeping up with the arrests and bust-ups many moons ago, so maybe there's been good tidings of a More Together Libertine - or maybe he just had a good couple days in the studio. Dunnt matter, really. Title track "The Blinding" is great, but the rest of the EP is even better. You can hear the trademark looseness that gave rise to the current wave of fast talking, almost-rapping storyteller Brits like dude from the Arctic Monkeys and Jamie T. And Pete continues to go even deeper into the reggae-via-Brixton feel on "I Wish." But ultimately what makes it so good is something way more general; that Pete's effortless, naive optimism - even in (or because of) the sea of dark signifiers in the chords and solos and lyrics all - is still there, and still triumphs. Even with all the impossibly cheap shit that has threatened to eat him, Pete remains our impossible romantic.