EP Review: Hallways

Two years on from her debut releases Stair Kids and Replacement Blonde, Becca Caffyn is back with a new mini EP Hallways. Written at Depot Sound, during a series of sessions facilitated through NZ On Air’s New Music Development initiative, Hallways was produced by Becca Caffyn and Noah Page. 

This collection of songs was written after Caffyn had moved out of home after the 2021 lockdown and into a house shared with ‘people she met on the internet’. The indie-country-folk singer songwriter captures the struggles of life, missing family and feelings of loss and regret. The soft subtleties of Caffyn’s harmonious vocal, drift through a gentle innocuous cloud of acoustic guitar, delivering us New Zealand’s very own Phoebe Bridgers, maybe?

The title track Hallways is a gentle acoustic ballad, which Caffyn states, “it depicts the bittersweet nature of growing up, living the life you always hoped you would create for yourself, but missing parts of the life you grew up with, like living down the hall from your family.” This track slowly builds inside you, drawing comparisons to Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) or Motion Sickness (Pheobe Bridgers), there’s a shy earnestness in the writing that is both naive and endearing. This is true also of Becca’s live performance (Hallways live), the shy earnest quality that she presents through each line is both intriguing and honest, every word is felt. 

Whilst writing the EP, Caffyn took an introspective look at herself and her surroundings. She writes with clarity; crafting honest lyrics and gentle melodies that speak to her own experiences. “I think it really deals with ends and beginnings and being excited and scared and wanting to chase new things but also being afraid to let go. It was more a season than a moment, but the feelings I wrote about in these tracks still resurface in my life now. Gas Money in particular is about leaving behind the summers of your youth, and the people and places that go along with that. 

In a vast sphere of indie introverted singer songwriters it can be difficult to stand out and resonate, however, with tracks Gas Money and Burning Time, there is a sense of individuality as well as an ode to artists such as Lizzy McAlpine, Julia Jacklin and Maggie Rogers, “My friend Benjamin Mack is definitely someone who inspires me to write, I think he is so great at what he does. I also really love Goodwill, Bexy, and There’s A Tuesday“.

Amongst the soft subtle undertones of Hallways narrative, this seems like the start of something bigger to come for Becca Caffyn, a clearly talented artist on a factory line of indie-folk. Becca is working on new material, which will hopefully be available to us this year; “I have another single that I am working on that I hope to release later on this year. It’s one that I’ve played live and lots of my friends have claimed it as their favourite, so I’d love to get it out.”