Holly Humberstone - Falling Asleep At The Wheel EP
Last week Holly Humberstone released her debut EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel. This is an EP I have been anticipating for a while now. I first came across Holly Humberstone when a friend recommended her song Deep End to me a few months back. I instantly fell in love with her vocals and the style of music. Over the last week or so as I’ve been listening to this EP I have fallen in love with it and it’s probably one of my favourite EP’s to be released in a while. It’s an EP about a relationship, or at least the breakdown of it and everything that comes with that. It’s heart wrenching and painful, yet still hopeful.
The EP opens with the aforementioned song Deep End, it’s a song that really sets the tone for the EP lyrically and atmospherically. Though this song is slightly more minimalistic musically, that doesn’t take away from the song at all, it really lets the vocals shine through and draw you in before going into the title track. I love the simple electric guitar accompaniment; it really helps it to drown you in the music, which is something I seek in music. Something that appears throughout the EP are the layered vocals that again add more dimension to the songs and make me fall even more in love with the vocals.
Lyrically I think this EP is really mature and cleverly written. It reminds me of how Lorde writes music, and if you are Lorde fans then I think you should definitely check out this EP. I really like the writing style here and is again something that I kept noting while listening to it last week.
The title track Falling Asleep At The Wheel is next and straight away this song is more upbeat than the first. The piano hits you straight away and I think it’s a great addition. The song builds slowly through each verse, adding something new, keeping the song interesting and listeners interested. This is definitely a depressing party song; it’s a song you can dance to while everything is in flames behind you. These contradictions are something that I love about the writing style comparing with the music. This song will get stuck in your head. Lyrically it explores wanting to be there for someone emotionally though you have your own problems going on and feeling guilty for that. It talks about wanting someone to be there for you and pleading for someone to help, while also knowing that you haven’t been there for the other person either. It’s like both the people in the song are helping each other while drowning.
The third song on the EP is called Overkill and I absolutely love how it starts. I love the vocals as always, the bass sounds really good and the build-up of guitars through the first verse is done well. The production on this EP is great, I love how it sounds and I think this song is a great example of that. Again with the layered vocals to add depth makes the song surround you. The next song Drop Dead starts more simply again compared to the last two songs, it’s a refreshing starkness. This makes the vocals stand out and therefore the lyrics too. It’s a haunting song, the kind that will make you cry while you listen to it at 2am.
Vanilla is the next song, the beginning of it already waking you up from the slumber of the last song, not that it’s a bad thing at all, the beat being something new for the EP. The chorus is catchy and is another one that will get stuck in your head. The writing takes you on a journey and the again showcases how good the song-writing is. The ending is hypnotising, and if you love all the other songs like I do by this point then you’ll love it.
The EP ends with a song called Livewire, a heart wrenching piano ballad that finishes off the story that’s been running through the EP. It’s a reminiscent song that wonders what’s happened to the person that the persona loved. The EP ends simply, bringing us full circle back to the start of the EP, and something I always find with endings like this is that they really make you think more and want to listen again, which I surely do.
I gushed a lot in this piece about how much I love the EP so I really hope that you do too, it’s definitely worth checking out if you are fans of Lorde, PVRIS, Amber Run.
Thank you for reading, until next time…
Listen to Falling Asleep At The Wheel here.
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