EP Review: Mary Moore - 'Rooted Heart'

Nashville based multi-instrumentalist Mary Moore releases her organic four-track EP, ‘Rooted Heart’, with rousing indie folk rock sentiment.

’Rooted Heart’ reveals itself as an intelligently crafted and poetic EP that shows off a special affinity with natural imagery, connecting the human spirit to nature. ‘Map My Body’ opens purposefully with anthemic vocal fillers, before delving energetically into a sultry, bouncy folk rock pop infusion of sound, where the instrumentation still gives space for Moore’s powerful yet vulnerable vocal and storytelling to take the lead. ‘Map My Body’ is an assertive and metaphor-laden track showing Moore with her defences down, soaring with the sweetness of finding a love interest who you are willing to relinquish healthy control to.

‘Reaching in the Dark’ follows, seeing a change of tone and mood. It’s my favourite song on the EP, transitioning from a sparse, haunted intro into a peculiarly euphoric, airy, jabbing chorus which juxtaposes the anxiety and fears in its lyrical theme. It’s a track that captures the hushed, lonely secrets we quietly send out into the universe during sleepless nights of overthinking and Moore elegantly roars with an honesty that you can almost reach out and touch. Moore also rolls over the immediate percussive rhythms and cascading drum groove similarly seen on ‘Map My Body’ adding a lively infectious spark hinting at transformation.

’Burn (Interlude)’ is a mammoth of an acappella piece. Moore conjures a mellow, ethereal atmosphere seeing her pure vocal exposed and showing off the classic side to her impressive range. Moore keeps it contemporary by using manipulation on her voice and layering the vocals in a way that has a quirky touch of the Imogen Heap’s about it.

’Redwoods’ wraps up the EP revealing itself as Moore’s most personal and confessional track on the EP, showing the restlessness and weariness of being uprooted from her hometown to chase her dreams, and calling on strength, resilience and groundedness from the Redwood trees. Sonically the track has a breezy, balmy indie rock nostalgia to it, Moore’s vocal is at its most gritty and raw, closing the EP on bold folk rock walls of sound and lofty vocal wails closing the track with a restored energy, seeing the record pleasantly go full circle like the seasons.

An exciting and authentic collection of beautifully raw songs, displaying fiery sentiment and unguarded introspection in all the right places.

Words of Karla Harris