As I began listening to GIYA’s debut EP Almost Real I was expecting it to be a traditional singer songwriter EP with some lovely lyrics and intimate melodies, but what I got was so much more than that. The Brighton based songstress’s project was recorded over a period of four years and is a memoir of tales about the transition from adolescence to early adulthood and, like that period of life, the EP takes many different turns.
The opening track starts off as I expected the EP to be with an acoustic centric track featuring poignant lyrics that will hit hard for anyone in their early 20’s right now but then we go to the second track Blood and that’s when the soundscape shifts. The guitar is removed and what we get is a slow burning R&B track with spaced out synths with her lush vocal melodies still soaring above it. It’s a sonic shift that turns the EP on it’s head in the best way possible and it only grows from there.
Children is like a modern day Fleetwood Mac song with the emotional brilliance the piece offers and general sound feeling like something that should be in an art house indie coming of age movie directed by Greta Gerwig. Dead Horses is a somber piece with a jazzy undertone that makes you feel like you’re at an old speakeasy watching her perform live to you. Then we come full circle with Different Woman, a piece that ends on an intimately beautiful note that will leave you with shivers going down your spine.
This whole EP just has this air surrounding it that makes it so captivating to listen to. GIYA has done something rather marvellous here and you can check it out for yourself below.