Melanie Crew is a London based singer and musician (guitar and clarinet), writing gentle acoustic music with soulful melodies, influenced by artists like Elliott Smith, Hem, Roddy Woomble and Carole King. Melanie released her first EP ‘Until the End’ in August 2015 which I’ve previously reviewed here.
This is a superb second EP from Melanie, the songs are brilliantly arranged and have a natural elegance. I really like the subtle jazz influences and unexpected chord changes, they add great interest and variation. There is a sadness to some of these songs and Melanie conveys this sadness yet maintains a positivity in her superb vocals.
Bring You Back
This song has natural sounding percussion to open with strummed chords and just a hint of a jazz feel in the progression. Melanie’s voice is beautiful and there’s some lovely harmonies too.
Parade
There’s a kind of waltz feel to the opening chord riff, vocals are superb again with really nice male / female harmonies.
Ghost
This song opens with a picked riff with harmonies, there’s just an edge of tension to this song. I really like the bass, it’s subtle but very effective. The vocals have a haunting feel on this song.
100 Words
Strummed chords against shimmery chord gives a great momentum but with an edge of tension too. There’s a really nice change to a more uptempo feel when the drums enter.
All That I Want
Lovely chord and riff to open, a stripped back sound with acoustic guitar and vocals which works extremely well.
Can’t Find a Way
A great arrangement of strummed chords with a second guitar having a half time feel. There are some unexpected chord changes which work really well. The natural percussion is subtle but gives a defined momentum.
Melanie Crew bandcamp | facebook | twitter | soundcloud
