EP: Cuntrie – ‘Scrapbooking’

“Everything I write needs to be true, because I don’t like to lie”, confesses Cuntrie (aka Ebba Gustafsson Ågren) about her debut EP, Scrapbooking. Released via Feverish on 22nd January, the Swedish indie musician embraces both the silly and the serious on her first offering under her new moniker.

Best known for fronting Swedish duo Wy, Ågren’s solo work explores more quirky, personal themes through a combination of witty lyrics, sweet vocals, and minimalist synth textures. Opening track ‘Spider’ is an ideal display of this, as she extrapolates about her phobia of a small arachnid over glitchy beats, prompting her to reflect on the deeper fears of losing control, and trying to stay calm.

On the brief ‘Hamster Cancer’, twinkling keys intertwine with ominous synths to help relive the pain left behind by the loss of a beloved pet. It’s a dark subject to lament about, but Cuntrie’s emotive vocals make her reflections feel soft and poignant. “I always thought that you were cool / just wanted to know more about you” she muses on penultimate track ‘The Singer’. Lo-fi beats and lush, longing vocals blend cooly together here, making it one of the strongest tracks on the EP.

Her gentle exploration of toxic masculinity on closing track ‘Oh Boy’ is especially touching. Cuntrie paints a picture with her lyrics of the stereotypical strong, silent man who is afraid to be emotional. With the simple repeated refrain “Men don’t want to fight / they just want to cry”, she effortlessly dismantles these pressures over slow, tentative beats.

Cuntrie’s debut EP certainly has the quality of a scrapbook. It’s a nostalgic, raw, genuine collection of reflections, fears, and anticipations that have a personal, yet universal quality. Her eccentric approach to songwriting makes Scrapbooking a refreshing, truly enjoyable listen.

Cuntrie’s debut EP Scrapbooking is released on 22nd Jan via Feverish.
Follow Cuntrie on Facebook & Spotify for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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EP: Eliza Shaddad – ‘Sept – Dec’

Ringing in 2020, Scottish-Sudanese singer Eliza Shaddad releases her new EP Sept-Dec. The songs focus on different forms of connection with other people, dealing with sex, normalcy, and friendship. 

Opener, ‘One Last Embrace’, is a grungy and atmospheric exploration of the swirling emotions of desire. The chorus and scratchy guitars surge throughout the song to a powerful crescendo like “a tidal wave, pulling me asunder”. 

‘Same As You’ has a lighter, dream-pop sound, featuring chiming guitar and layered vocals. The mood is bitter-sweet, capturing the nostalgia of a craving a connection between two people, despite their differences. In a similar vein, ‘Girls’ explores the memories of a close female friendship, both good and bad. The song builds slowly before the sound fills out to an emotional chorus – “I know you’re lying when you say you’re alright”. We get a sense of someone or something breaking down. 

There is much to cherish in this EP; a collection of confessional songs which allow a connection with the listener through a sense of shared experience, delivered through the lens of late ’80s/ early ’90s-inspired guitar pop. 

Sept ~ Dec is due for release on 24th January 2020. Eliza is currently on tour supporting Keane, see all the details here.

Fi Ni Aicead
@gotnomoniker

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EP: Tape Runs Out – ‘Talking Through Walls’

In a glistening manner, indie/electronic band Tape Runs Out take listeners down a lively new exploratory path in their newborn EP, Talking Through The Walls. Like cutting a crisp corner, the wind of the EP’s overturning tone provides a sense of urgency throughout this twinkling release that allows intricacy a spotlight, and quietness its space. In Talking Through The Walls‘ opening track ‘Make It Work’, the feeling of nostalgia is set for the record that stands parallel with the smell of untouched stories. With a shoegaze-strewn, dream-like element to the sonic landscape, Tape Runs Out lay out a bed of travel where moments of swelling synth and shiny guitar can be immortal. 

The freshness of Talking Through The Walls resides in Tape Runs Out’s ability to introduce folk sounds and timbres that ever so unexpectedly fit the band’s sonic language. ‘Ice Cream Soup’, found halfway through the release, bends in ways sounding both digital and analog as synths mimic a traditional guitar slide. There is a distinct and quirky charisma embodied in what Tape Run’s Out have stumbled upon here.

Ending the EP with lullaby-like elegance, ‘My Childhood Hands’ is an emotionally enduring mural painted with background samples that sound like home. As the pulsing keys initiate the song, here there remains room for listeners to have their own moment with the piece before the tremolo begins to shift the song’s footing. As the drifting instrumentation builds, listeners shuffle along picking up tiny yet significant elements that gradually layer in the mix like a story. This tasteful font in which Tape Runs Out have written their EP so strategically in, illustrates the band’s attention to detail. Talking Through The Walls is an instrumental adventure worth the conquest. 

Talking Through Walls is out now via Kuang Grade Recordings. Listen on Spotify.

Jill Goyeau
@jillybxxn

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EP: ARXX – ‘Wrong Girl, Honey’

Following up their last EP, Daughters of Daughters, garage rockers – and GIHE faves – ARXX returned in November with Wrong Girl, Honey. A jamming blend of early ’90s influence and thoroughly modern melody, their second EP is a highly-listenable peek into the Brighton duo’s repertoire.

I feel dead lucky to be able to say I’ve seen ARXX play live several times. I’m going to be honest: I see a lot of bands. I even see a lot of bands I really enjoy, but ARXX are on another level. Last May, I caught them playing a packed VANS store during The Great Escape, and people were streaming out of the door, beers-in-hand.

When a band can impress you live as well as on a record, you know you’re onto something wild, and beautiful, and immense.

Wrong Girl, Honey opens with the anthemic power-chord-driven ‘Iron Lung’, a track that packs fifty punches into three minutes. Guitarist and singer Hannah always delivers unforgetable riffs while drummer, Clara, gives it her all on the skins. Every track on the EP is memorable and vast, widely building in tension throughout, before leaving you with ringing ears and a desperate craving for more.

The EP closes with a change of pace with ‘The Storm’, a song that opens with just Hannah and a palm-muted guitar. Conjuring feelings of long-gone 1950s dance halls, of unfilled dance cards and swing, with lyrics examining what it means to be young and in loss (“I wish I was more than this”), it only adds to the brilliance of this band.

Wrong Girl, Honey is an expansive exploration of not just a tribute to the riot grrrls who came before, but a band who knows music and knows how to speak to a new generation of girls who know their worth. Girls ready to fight for it.

 

Wrong Girl, Honey is out now. Listen on Spotify, or buy on Bandcamp now.

Em Burfitt
@fenderqueer

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