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 in August 2015, and is currently playing acoustic gigs around London.
And this is an outstanding EP, it has an excellent natural, organic sound with great playing and arrangements. Melanie’s vocals are gorgeous which contrast with the sadness in the lyrics and make them really captivating. The guitar playing is great too, a really good variety of riffs and styles with great arrangement of 2 guitar parts. Percussion and bass are subtle but really effective.
Hiding Away
Brilliant arrangement, strummed acoustic guitar to open with gorgeous vocals. The guitar chords take on a more open strummed feel with tambourine and subtle background organ type of sound. There are great harmonies with a really nice change of feel and the beauty of the vocals contrasts with the sadness in the lyrics which makes this a really captivating song.
Finding a Place
There’s a jazz type feel to the opening with lovely vocals again. Percussion enteres to give a subtle momentum. I really like the tremelo guitar, layered guitar parts work really well too.
Do You Know
This song has a strummed riff to open with a nice edge of tension in the riff. The second guitar adds a nice momentum with bass and percussion. The song has great harmonies too.
Take Me Back
This song has a great riff to open, I really like the strummed guitar which provides a great contrast. Lovely vocals again, really good harmonies. There’s a great change in feel too.
With You
This song has an almost lilting feel, like a waltz in 3/4 time with the bass note and strummed chord. Lovely vocals again, the bass complements the song really well. It’s a brilliant arrangement.
Waiting for Someone
This song has a strummed chord to open with great tremelo. The strummed chords are arranged really well. The song has a kind of lullaby / dreamy feel at times with a really subtle tension too. Percussion adds a nice momentum and there’s a great subtle bass again.
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