Essence Martins’ sophomore EP is a 20-minute shadowboxing session with her past self, as the young singer-songwriter grapples bravely with stinging feelings of regret and inadequacy. The release of Sleeping On It coincides with Martins’ 24th birthday, though the Londoner sounds weary beyond her years as she laments unbefitting exes and reprimands herself for the fateful times she didn’t listen to her own advice. 

Proceedings open with ‘Mrs Right’, a melancholic track about watching the other half of a failed situationship move on, a feeling many of Martins’ Gen Z listenership will no doubt relate to. It was this opening track that earned Martins a co-sign from R&B icon Jill Scott, who recently showed her 2.4m Instagram followers a clip of the break-up ballad, captioned ‘I like to see it.’ Martins’ introspective nature shines on the aptly titled ‘Told Me So’ and it’s hard not to feel sympathetic as she pines for ‘a love who’s deserving’ on the radio-ready yearning anthem ‘Quiet & Perfect’.

Martins wears her influences on her sleeve, having cited the likes of Leith Ross, Olivia Dean and Phoebe Bridgers as direct inspirations. On the titular track it sounds as though Martins could go toe-to-toe with any of those names, as she and producer Jules Konieczny find themselves in the pocket of an uplifting break-up track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a boygenius album. Not every song on this collection bears as much weight as the title track, though it’s hard not to be drawn in by Essence Martins’ knack for self-reflection.

Sleeping On It is released by FAE MUsic on Friday 4 April.