The opening track of this new EP from Cassandra Cole, ‘Where’s The Grey?’, not only sets a musical tone for what’s to follow with its chiming folkscapes, ambient drifts and appealing spaciousness, but its titular question also gets at the point that life is never about the black and white, the obvious or the clear-cut; that life plays out in the nuanced and ambiguous liminal spaces between, a theme that pervades the six songs found here.
‘So Hey’ is a more complex beast, mixing delicate tones and textures with more intricate sonics, shuffling beats, and siren-song motifs, ebbing and flowing between the elegant and the energised. ‘Shut Up and Listen’ belies its imposing title and runs on a musing, meandering melody that at times takes on an almost ephemeral quality, as if it might only take a moderate breeze to steal the song from you.
‘Friend’ is the most upbeat and full-on, although of course such terms are relative with an album built on such delicacies, intricate pop-folk with a rock-and-roll attitude, poised and propulsive and purposeful but still revelling in lovely lulls and ethereal choirs to soften and seduce. And if ‘Save Me’ is the most understated way to sign off, we are then treated to a bonus live version of ‘Wednesdays’, proving that such serene sounds aren’t merely the product of the studio and that their pin-drop lightness translates easily to the live environment.
As the songs run between question and revelation, and the music between the delicacy and, well, the reasonably delicate, The Grey is a reminder that although all songs tend to start as light sketches, outlines of ideas to be fleshed out, sometimes too much elaboration and addition can bury what made the song so effective in the first place. The Grey is the sound of songs being left to breathe, songs that allow the light in, songs that do only enough to capture the very essence of Cole’s creative vision. Clarity beats volume every time.
