Folk-pop sweetheart Esther Holt has stepped aside from her band Snowy Belfast, venturing alone into the airwaves with her first solo release, Countless Verse.
Holt’s young and angelic vocals offer a soft charm, yet a charm that demands attention.
The title track introduces the listener to a mellow, piano packed ballad. As the first track to be lifted from the EP, it showcases Holt’s melodic vocal desirability, showing good promise for what’s to come.
However, all too similar to the song that precedes it, ‘Testify’ is less than invigorating. Its delicacy is outweighed by the song’s lack of punch.
By track three the Aussie songstress finally lifts the tempo, with added banjo and clapping, shifting the sound to a more country laced folk, displaying her unique genre diversity.
‘What You Know’ is undoubtedly the stand out resembling an upbeat summer anthem, the kind you’d play on a road trip down the coast.
Closer ‘Eadie’ offers a return to the gentle, unenergetic sounds from the beginning of the EP, a disappointing ending that takes angelic to the wrong kind of level making Holt sound like she belongs in a church rather than on stage.
The slow, brass-percussion filled track still has its merits, and a harmonic background fills the tune, however, another up tempo track would have left the EP more well rounded and satisfying as a whole – perhaps Holt is hiding one up her sleeve, saving it for an album? We sure hope so!
