Review Summary: Victoria Bigelow's Waves EP sees her establishing herself as a rising star, even if there are still a few kinks to be worked out.
It’s not every year that I stumble across a voice as powerful and alluring as Victoria Bigelow’s. One minute into ‘Playing God’, my ears were already hostage to her sultry tone and limber inflections. In
Waves’ dimly-lit and predominantly acoustic atmosphere, the experience lives and dies by the strength of Bigelow’s vocals – and in this case, she delivers one unforgettable performance after another. I’m almost reminded of the first time I heard Zella Day; there’s just a pure magnetic quality to her voice that is difficult to walk away from once you’ve started listening.
Thanks to
Waves’ brief runtime as a five-track EP, it’s even easier to remain transfixed. ‘Love in Vain’ probably has the most memorable melody of the batch, with Bigelow singing of transient and ultimately meaningless romantic encounters: “We've done all this before, sometimes I even think I like it / The bigger the lie we tell, the more we're prone to buy it”…“Then you'll tell me how you want me, and I'll happily oblige / I've been making myself small all of my fucking life.” Most of
Waves adopts a similarly forlorn temperament; an emotionally detached observation of life in your late twenties, when you’re expected to have everything figured out even though life’s most important answers continue to prove evasive. It’s a sentiment best expressed on the dreary ‘Same as It Ever Was’, where Bigelow sings over a somber and appropriately indifferent-sounding piano line: “What's your problem? Why are you so tired? What the fuck is wrong with you? Aren't these the best days of your life?”
Waves is rather pared-down instrumentally, but it ends up being a fairly accurate reflection of this drab, emotionally forsaken EP.
In its current state, it’s difficult to hail
Waves as much more than a showcase of Victoria’s superb vocal talent. Her power is impressive and her timbre gorgeous, so it ends up becoming more a question of
what to surround that tremendous skill set with on future endeavors. The eponymous closing track goes out on a limb, drenching her voice in autotune a la Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide and Seek’. Unfortunately, it lacks any punch and ultimately does the EP a disservice by clouding its strongest asset – Victoria’s singing. That might have been a swing and a miss, but I’m confident that Bigelow will eventually discover the best way to accent her natural gift – whether it’s lush strings/brass, a gruffer rock edge, electronic experimentation, or more ambitious/complex songwriting. Even if she doesn’t do this right away,
Waves functions perfectly well as a straightforward bare-bones folk experience – so an encore would still be an enticing prospect. Victoria Bigelow is a tremendous talent with multiple potential avenues to explore musically, so now is a good time to hop on board and see where this sterling young career ends up.
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