Review: Hayley Ross – “Moving All Around” EP (2020)

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Brighton songwriter Hayley Ross follows her 2020 debut album with a new EP “Moving All Around”. Experimenting with a mix of alt/folk, roots and classic surf sounds, Ross delivers three new tracks of her affecting song writing, hallmarked with her distinctive dusky vocal.

‘Moving All Around’ is a song about living in a state of transience and yearning for a life less complicated, when writing it Hayley found herself seeking escape from the humdrum of the day-to-day in a world completely different to her own. She developed a fascination in the evocative photography of Tim Richmond and his documentary project ‘The Last Best Hiding Place… A Contemporary Look at the American West’ The guitar chords opening this track reminded me so much the recent collaboration between Khruangbin and Leon Bridges on `Texas Sun`.

The song has that feel of a road trip in the Lone Star State. Hayley`s voice has a wonderful vulnerability that adds to the vast feeling of openness on this quite mellow number.

There`s a real late-night vibe to `All These Things` a song about the more negative aspects of being in love and the passions that come with it. We enjoy some gentle harmonies and occasional twangy guitar outbursts while there`s an aching almost longing in Hayley`s vocal delivery. It did put me in mind of pop folk singer Tanita Tikaram`s “Twist in My Sobriety”

The closing number `Hope I`m Wrong` is a superbly stripped back affair with just vocal and acoustic guitar evoking memories of times gone by, along with people and places. A cello joins two thirds of the way through and adds a real sense of frailty to this piece.

This was a marvellous introduction for me to this talented singer-songwriter. Hayley has a varied and rich vocal range as highlighted on these songs where she offers and shares a diverse range of tracks from a soundscape, a dreamy emotive intimate setting to a sparse and almost personal offering. Sadly, her debut album passed me by for some reason, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on what she has to offer in future.

 Rating 9 /10  

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