EP Review: Awkwardly Eccentric

Hybrid Rose’s EP, Awkwardly Eccentric, is an enjoyable ride through different emotions. On the opening track Pearl, featuring Jahleel, the passionate lyrics and delivery take this song through different waves of emotion. It’s fantastic and resonates with me. Pressure, it makes you strong inside. Just like a pearl. Clever.

In a complete twist, No Vacancy is a banger of a track. Huge bassline and dynamics to boost, I could imagine using this for my gym sessions. Hybrid Rose is already showing here that she has an ear for structure, dynamics and taking the listener on a journey. Especially when you get to that drop towards the end. Epic.

Dream Team took gave me inflections of the group M83 which was great. I love hearing influences in people’s music and to me, I could hear it here. Lyrically, it matches the music so well. A dream team. Is that what we want in a relationship? Yes. There is an air of confidence in the delivery and chord progression. I really enjoyed this. And with that 80’s pop feel to it… classic.

Heaven Spills featuring Emily Riordan is chilled and more relaxed track, the first we hear on the EP. This is also stripped back and played on piano and guitar which is called Heaven Spills (Deconstructed). Both versions are stellar. Beautiful lyrics and performances. This song was the standout moment for me.

The EP overall is a showcase of the songwriting and arrangement ability that Hybrid Rose has at her fingertips. Each song has its own character, like in Solitude which captures that enjoyment of just sitting at home watching TV or the instrumental tracks that fill in tracks that have vocals which do not feel like fillers. Music is about taking the listener on a journey and the EP feels like this.

Awkwardly Eccentric is clever. It is epic, and it is classic. It is an EP I would happily listen to from beginning to end over and over. Each listen I keep hearing new musical ideas. I cannot wait to hear what else Hybrid Rose has for us. And I would love to see her live! Make sure you check this EP out. It is fantastic.