Lizzie Reid: Undoing EP review – Into the gloom
For her third EP, the folk musician embraces darkness and obsession
Glasgow-based singer/guitarist Lizzie Reid has become a go-to wingwoman for the likes of Hamish Hawk and Katie Gregson-MacLeod in recent years, having already proven her abilities as a purveyor of fragile acoustic folk pop from the release of her SAY Award-nominated debut Cubicle onwards. Bringing her own music back to the forefront, she follows last year’s delicate Bodega EP with a quite different beast, one which gives cathartic vent to a period of emotional turmoil and confusion.
Reid hinted at what she could do when plugging in on her 2022 Mooching EP but her latest four-track release, Undoing, boldly summons the sonic storm clouds for her heaviest expression yet, clawing through ‘the full throes of obsession, rumination, depression and panic’, as she puts it in the press notes that accompany the EP. Reid has written on her mental health before but this time the music matches the drama of those torrid sentiments.
‘Sweet Relief’ opens with the arresting clang of electric guitar before pulling back to a foreboding bassline. The quiet strength of Reid’s vocal is occasionally punctuated by gothic power chords as she takes her time, building slowly to an intoxicating climax. ‘Wagon’ initially changes the tune with sultry torch vocals before yielding to post-punk guitar noise. She persists with steely authority on ‘Sentimental’ where a brooding new-wave bassline paves the way for some glacial guitar and then another gothic guitar hero workout. Final track ‘Burden’ is much softer, closer to the fragrant folk of her previous material. In this context, it is less a retreat and more an emergence into the light.
Lizzie Reid: Undoing is self-released on Friday 17 April; picture: Marilena Vlachopoulo.