Ashley Lian - Dear (EP)
 |
| Ashley Lian - Dear (EP) |
Baltimore student Ashley Lian has a guitar and some songs so
let's get our ears open and give her debut EP a listen. The 'Dear EP' opens up
with 'Halftime Musing' which is the longest of the tunes despite only being 2
minutes and 44 seconds long. The song itself is a soft, simple acoustic riff
with some equally gentle vocals looking back at times and loves gone by with a
tinge of regret. 'Mine' is up next and has a more lilting feel but that soft,
Norah Jones-ish vocal is still everpresent atop the strummed guitar. On
'Eleven' Lian picks at the guitar while the lyrics would fit in on the
soundtrack of Juno or any other low budget US film about awkward kids battling
with growing up.
The music and musicianship is nothing to write home about on
this EP - simple and in tune though it is - but it is this singer's pillow soft
and cloud light vocals delivering the lyrics so wonderfully that is worth
taking notice of. 'Limbs' is a great example of this as Lian sings softly and
sweetly "I am all that I was, all
that I'll ever be, taped and rewritten by your tender". The collection
ends on 'Things I Wanted To hear (But Were Never Said)' and you definitely get
the feeling that these songs were written in the bedroom of a shared house at
3.00am such is the softness with which Lian performs so as not to wake her
housemates. Simple, pure and delicate stuff - like a musical snowflake, if you
will.
More information: https://ashleylian.bandcamp.com/