Info: It's interesting listening back to Galway alt-pop artist Roisin El Cherif's debut single 'Kerosene' from 2016, it's a really great and memorable track, but it also had those initial hints that people often describe as showing promise, or being 'an act to watch out for', etc. Except, often such promise can evaporate, either through a musician deciding to call it a day, or the creative pot bubbling over too early.
Not the case here. On debut EP Glass House, as soon as the title track bellows a distant vocal in our direction we can hear just how far come El Cherif has travelled already. There's a heady and intoxicating mixture of dark ambience and a brimming pop vocal that is threatening to rise up at any moment, and sure enough it unleashes itself at the 3:27 mark. The ability to flip the switch between moody and rock vocal is very appealing.
Not the case here. On debut EP Glass House, as soon as the title track bellows a distant vocal in our direction we can hear just how far come El Cherif has travelled already. There's a heady and intoxicating mixture of dark ambience and a brimming pop vocal that is threatening to rise up at any moment, and sure enough it unleashes itself at the 3:27 mark. The ability to flip the switch between moody and rock vocal is very appealing.
Roisin El Cherif - 'Glass House'
'Run' sheds the sombre tone of the opening track, here El Cherif shows a proficiency for interpreting with great ease a classic 80's pop-rock sound, whilst effortlessly shoe-horning in a more contemporaneous timbre. It's hard not to cast your mind back to the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Heart or Kim Carnes, and I'm talking just as much about the music than the voice here.
The focal pop point occurs on third track 'Say', from a tender opening the song unfolds into a glistening and babbling stream courtesy of the rhythmic guitar and its call and response chorus, we also hear what may be the first instances of Roisin El Cherif courting a future RnB sound. Along with 'Glass House', 'Half-Life' is a really bright highlight on the EP, in a song-writing sense the transition from a mood-driven introduction to a cacophonous pop chorus here is a joy to behold. It's defiant, indignant, loaded with gunpowder, and the hooks are catchy as hell.
In summary, with her debut EP, Roisin El Cherif confirms what we all hoped would happen back in 2016, but what excites most going forward is wondering what she will sound like in 2, 5 and 10 years time, the creative cork has just been popped.
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