EZLA - Outcasts (2017)

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Written by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin

EZLA’s first studio release, a five song EP entitled Outcasts, gives this young Nashville based singer/songwriter the kind of opening for a recording career that most artists can only dream of. She’s clearly an artist with virtually boundless potential, but she’s also a finished product in many respects who has entered the recording studio with a clear idea of what she wanted to accomplish. Outcasts stands as a monument to her success. She’s clearly aiming to craft much more than just your average electronic fueled pop outing and the dark tenor of much of her lyrical content is further underlined and skewed by the idiosyncratic nature of her voice. It has a slightly nasal quality that gives her an insolent air, but she also proves herself to possess an exceptionally flexible vocal instrument capable of conveying great sensitivity. It makes this EP more memorable than most and she never hesitates to push her vision on listeners with total confidence.

She’s definitely making an attempt, with some of these songs, at providing a twist on the traditional pop anthem. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the opening song and title track “Outcasts” where EZLA casts her lots with those cast away from the mainstream and puts it over with a passionate delivery that will surprise some listeners, thanks to her age, and definitely grab their attention. “Skeletons” has a similar shadowy spirit, but there’s a stronger sense of musicality here and a refrain that will burn itself into listener’s memories. The use of melody on Outcasts is an important part in its ability to get over with the audience and another key is the unpredictability of EZLA’s arrangement. She isn’t afraid to change things up and challenge listener’s preconceived notions in these first two songs and it makes for invigorating listening. “Satellites” demonstrates her ability to shift gears and still keep the music working along exactly the same lines, while tackling very different subject matter. Longing and desire are big keys to this song, but it is, at the end of the day, much more of a conventional love song than anything else she exposes us to on Outcasts and hits the same nerves despite showing off a more appealing lyrical face.  

“Hangman” takes the audience back into more unsettled territory than the previous track. It’s cut from the same cloth as the first two songs without ever sounding imitative and shares the same predeiliciton for a strong refrain we heard in the EP’s second number. The final track, “Psycho Killers”, makes it clear that the EP has been building to this moment and it proves to be an involving climax to the album while carrying us further into darker points of view than ever before. Outcasts takes a straight line to get from point A to point B and dazzles us along the way. It’s one of 2017’s most notable debuts.