Grief, reminiscence, loss, and reflection. These are just some of the heavy and difficult emotions that Eve Whelan brings to life in her illuminating and serenely atmospheric EP ‘Reflection’. Weightlessly carrying a beautifully modulated voice that has remarkable range, Eve is able to power emotion with each twang of her guitar and each intonation in her singing. At six tracks long, and only around twelve minutes long, its compactness allows no moments for weakness.
The opener, ‘Recovery’, is a short slightly bubbly track that serves as an ideal intro. Eve’s harmonies on this track give you a glimpse of what’s to come. The falsetto “recovery” that catalyses the end is so soothing that you just can’t help but wish it went on for a minute longer. “August” is far more melancholic, showing the more definitive theme of the project. “Take me back to before” laments an aching Eve. Her high pitched humming is transportive. “I wanna see you in my reflection, can you see through, cause all I see is blue” is so simply put, but has mountains of meaning behind it.
On the inspiration behind the album, Eve notes “The EP was written about the different stages of grief I experienced after the death of a close family member that I loved deeply and miss so very much. Although the songs come from a personal place, I feel that they will resonate with anyone who has suffered the great loss of a loved one.“ Grief and loss play centrepiece to this EP.
Released as a single in March of this year, ‘Transitions’, is the definitive piece of the EP. At just eighteen years old, her attention to melody and song writing is far beyond her years and this song shows that and some more.
She can’t stay much longer you know
She packed her bags so long ago
But she’s too afraid to let go
She can’t stay much longer you know
She packed her bags so long ago
And there’s no choice but to let go
Effortlessly elegant.
The final piece on the project, ‘Promise’ has the best guitar work on the album. Predictably then, it’s almost the folk sounding track on the album, an almost Bon Iver-esque feeling prevailing on it — that slightly spacey production, high pitched vocal performance with a strong guitar driven lead.
Reflection is a very competent album, and an equally enjoyable one at that. Whelan’s song-writing is the most attention grabbing highlight of the record, with talent that seems far beyond her experience would suggest. A beautiful folk, singer-songwriter Ep for all fans.
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