EP Review: Laura Elizabeth Hughes - 'We, Myself and I'
Dublin born singer-songwriter Laura Elizabeth Hughes creates a whirlwind of emotion on new EP, ‘We, Myself, I’.
‘We, Myself, I’ opens despondently with the gruelling, ‘Days’, a song that puts the aimlessness of days spent in lockdown firmly under the microscope. Raw, atmospheric guitar chords support Hughes’s stream of consciousness lyricism. Here, Hughes shares her experiences of being in lockdown, losing track of time and struggling to find a sense of purpose in an uncertain COVID-19 world. While Hughes succeeds in making her restlessness tangible, there is a warmth to the track’s chorus, depicted through chiming guitars and Hughes’s dulcet tones that stops the track stagnating in sorrow. There’s also some really special vocal harmonies that sound like little rays of sunshine.
‘Two’ marks the middle of the EP, offering a lightness in its poetic, acapella intro. Hughes’s vocal is soon joined by touching and sparse piano keys as Hughes laments, 'Tell me, tell me how you keep it all together now’. ‘Two’ holds space for sadness, it’s a reflective and meditative number which features ethereal transitions bursting with emotion and encouraging cathartic release.
The EP wraps up on its title track, ‘We Myself and I’, ending the track with the rawness of the opening song. Here, moody, atmospheric guitars are back in play, as Hughes addresses what we can assume to be an ex lover, asking, ‘if you still do care for my face, my taste, the way I move’. This is arguably Hughes’s darkest song on the EP as she imagines herself howling with the foxes, feeling the sting of sniffing chlorine, singing to simply cleanse the air. Yes, this track is a jagged, gloomy affair, it’s that moment when you stop digging your nails into sweaty palms and say exactly how you feel and its chiming melodies are thoroughly haunting.
‘We Myself I’ is an extraordinary offering. It’s minimal, it’s brooding, it’s raw and it’s certainly rough around the edges. It’s compelling, and it’s honest, and that’s what people want to hear in mood-driven music. They want to hear stories they can relate to, and if they can’t relate to them, they want to recognise emotions that they feel, or they have felt, or they might soon feel. What really softens the whole EP is Laura Elizabeth Hughes unabashed and apologetic vulnerability, her startling beautiful melodies, and her ability to paint light into the darkest pictures. This EP is For fans of Maria Kelly, Ailbhe Reddy and Bryde.
Words of Karla Harris