Lisa Crawley is an incredibly talented classically trained pianist right. And from the get-go of Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between you can tell – as the classic staccato chord progression of ‘Brothers’ kicks in and the vocal hops from chord to chord over the top – that this is the tone Crawley has set for her five track follow up EP to Shoot The Night.
The EP is a whimsical, jolly affair, one which makes you think of the Nutcracker and lolly shops, or the way a male would sit at a piano in period movies and entertain a post-dinner audience and then one of the society woman would sleep with him even though it was below her, he was just that irresistible.
Anyway, it’s mainly Crawley’s vocals that do this (and the first track - cannot get over that jollity); a syrupy smooth female drawl that fades into something reminiscent of cracking paint (in a good way) that sort of reminds me of Elanor Friedenberger (Fiery Furnaces) crossed with a lead from Chicago (hence the preceding period drama reference). The instrumentality is super jazzed up, but there’s a few little piques here and there, maintaining enough differentiation to both keep it interesting and avoid cringe-worthy throwback territory – the drum machine beginning of ‘Back to you’ is particularly notable for this.
Ultimately this is a lady putting a beautiful voice and a classical talent to pop music, and while at times you wonder whether she wouldn’t be better just completely delving into a Norah Jones-cum-gentleman’s club sound entirely, the self-reflective lyrics accompanied with the aforementioned ditties (bar the trumpet, maybe a bit too much) make Crawley’s ‘in between’ (pop and classical, that is) territory just about right.
