E-RAY - E-RAY

E-RAY

E-RAY
self-released; 2014

3.3 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Hailing from Ontario, Canada E-RAY is a lone female singer/songwriter who recently released a seven-song self-titled EP E-RAY. As far as I know the EP is completely self-produced as well as recorded, mixed and mastered by E-RAY herself. 

The seven songs mostly revolve around a guitar and her vocals although she makes some unexpected deviations. Her guitar playing is basic and not overly complicated and often has atmospheric qualities, which serve as a light canvas for her to sing upon. The main attraction is that her voice is unique. It’s not overly feminine and drips with melancholy and depth. She doesn't have a very wide range but instead chooses to stay within the octave she sounds best in. 

The first song “TRAIN” contains a soft, delicate combination of acoustic guitar and somewhat sporadic percussion. It serves as a good introduction to her voice and aesthetic qualities that make it appealing. The song is fragile and feels as if it could fall apart at any moment. “MIA” has similar vibe but she overlay vocal harmonies that are somewhat effective but in desperate need of compression.

E-RAY implements a drum kit, and very subdued eerie vocals on top on her guitar on ”DRAGON.” The kick drum was mostly made of sub frequencies and also didn’t create much space for the guitar. The next song “BOX” is a beat heavy song with a prominent drumbeat. It was a song that was in need of more instrumentation and a better mix. I’m not really sure what was going on musically with “FLY AWAY” while “PICK ME UP” reverts back to a guitar and vocals.

E-RAY has talent and a great voice but I feel like she took on too much by herself with this EP. She doesn't currently have the engineering chops or production know-how to make her ideas pop. What I strongly encourage her to do is befriend a studio savvy producer so her ideas can find their potential. She needs someone to bounce ideas off at the very least to properly engineer the album. This is a perfect case when a producer can benefit an artist by channeling their ideas into what they envisioned or more.

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