Will Saunders - EP Review: All That Has Ever Been
Will Saunders’ 5-track EP All That Has Ever Been opens with Come On Down, a raucous indie pop tune, either written from the perspective of a child looking up at a balloon as it floats away, or potentially a person who sees a friend who’s constantly out of it. It’s a ripping song; guitars, drums, words and noises all chugging along at around 100 beats a minute, until the wailing guitar feedback finishes.
The second tune, Catch It In Your Mind, is a tad slower and lighter, featuring the first appearance of an acoustic guitar, and right near the end of it, the EP’s title comes out: All That Has Ever Been. This track has an up-tempo drum with other instrumentation playing at half time. There’s a wonderful sense of freedom and chaos in Will Saunders’ music, and it is especially crafted on this tune.
Third tune in, All That I Could Do, is drum machine meets Arabic music; the song sounds like it’s in a very Middle Eastern scale. Like the other tunes on the EP it has many layers, but there’s also space, it’s very cleverly recorded. Lo-Fi yes, 100%, but beautifully recorded.
The fourth tune of five is Fling. Lyrically this track sounds like it was written about a brief relationship. Musically it’s more stripped back with minimum orchestration, the acoustic guitar leads with other instruments gently following. Saunders went all out when it came to the vocal tracks: there are unison voices, harmony tracks, vocal parts that just fade away like an unfinished afterthought. It’s got a lot going on, while not being dense or crowded.
The five song EP ends with its shortest track; Not Here Anymore. At a guess it’s being sung from the viewpoint of someone who’s recently died. It is 1 minute, 50 seconds of two acoustic guitar tracks, one on rhythm, the other melody and a couple of vocal tracks. It is superbly layered, sparse and vulnerable.
This is a wonderful EP. I just want to hear more.
About Will Saunders
He has released four full length albums and ten solo EP's.
He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for Auckland bands The Quick and the Dead, Bearhat and The Lowest Fidelity.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Will Saunders
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