Ambulance LTD plan to release an album of all new material later this year. The New English EP serves as a tasty hors d’oeuvres to whet fans’ appetites for this main course. It features two new songs: the shuffling, vaguely country title track and “Arbuckle’s Swan Song,” a smooth pop number that the AMG reviewer justifiably compares to Spandau Ballet. I also thought of Steely Dan. Whomever you want to compare it to, it’s the weakest track of the bunch and hopefully not indicative of some new direction the band is taking. Much more exciting are the two demos of songs that ended up on LP. There’s a stripped down, acoustic version of “Heavy Lifting” plus a nifty take on “Sugar Pill” that has a fat distorted bass line pushed to the front of the mix. Also included are two unreleased tracks, “Country Gentlemen” and “Straight A’s,” both mellow Brit-pop flavored gems. Topping it all off is a faithful live cover of Pink Floyd’s “Fearless.” New English is definitely worth picking up if you liked the band’s other releases, the not so creatively titled LP and EP.

I couldn’t track down any freebies but you can stream the “Heavy Lifting” demo and Floyd cover at the band’s MySpace page as well as “New English” from the band’s official site. eMusic subscribers can also download the whole EP here.