An EP release from Mel Stirling delivers a vast rock soundscape and with it comes an ambient underbelly along with a special breed of honesty that not only paints a picture for you to grab onto but delivers with it this personality that lets you know that these songs came from someplace real which makes them all the more authentic.
The Standing to Fall EP comes through with a very lush array of instrumentation and an almost cinematic backbone along with this heavy emotional drive and that combination is what makes them stand out and what makes them connect with you when you're listening to it.
The record definitely goes through a certain set of struggles which are very personal, and Mel has a beautiful way of sort of wearing her heart on her sleeves and releasing music with fewer boundaries than what you may be used to.
Although the record has a harder edge to it a lot of the time with heavier sort of guitars and a rock feel, it still has a gracefulness to it and the performances, especially vocally.
Her vocal approach is robust and even almost operatic at times, but it blends in texturally with the music so incredibly well that all the elements of the songs have a way of complimenting each other.
It's been some time since I've heard such a wonderfully woven but brutally honest release that blends this amazing and almost orchestrated feel with a harder edge and a complete honesty, and this is so refreshing to me that I had to listen to the record again a second time around.
This is the kind of album that serves almost like a concept record where the songs are like chapters in the artist's life and you have to listen to the full record to piece everything together but in reality, the reason you should listen to the whole release it's because by listening to only one or two songs, you're not getting the full range of what the record has to offer as a whole.
You do have these keys, strings, electric guitars, and clean guitars that all come together with live drums a lot of the time, and this all gives the songs the sense of being alive and breathing because you get these sorts of swells and sways throughout them.
Again, very cinematic and impactful a lot of the time, this EP comes through with an authentic approach that delivers that persona and once you have it you don't want to let it go.
Some of the tracks even cause memories of your own to pop into your head at times and that's a beautiful connection to make musically.
It's almost like certain songs were written just for you even though you know they weren't.
These are the kinds of attributes that a really good record should display, and Mel was able to pull all of this off on one six-track EP which to me is mind-blowing.
You can clearly tell that this was a pure passion project for the artist and that she has a real love for her craft and uses her music to get things off of her chest and speak her mind in the only way she knows how.
A lot of the time I feel like this record was most likely cathartic for Mel to write and release but for whoever's listening to it, it can be very relatable.
This was a beautiful record that was gracefully performed and hit a lot of sweet spots that come with songs written from an emotional drive or deep thought.
Check this full EP out when you can and listen to it with headphones on because it's one of the best ways to soak it in if you ask me.