EP review - Half As Much - Zoe Fegan

It's a very British thing to feel a bit apprehensive about endlessly sharing our music with our "fans" when we're just starting out on our musical journeys. Often those "fans" are largely comprised of friends and family and we don't like to keep bugging them asking them to like this, share this or pre save that or other. We don't like to keep asking and instead much prefer to just put our music somewhere accessible and let those who want to engage do so in their own time and manner. It feels impolite and self-absorbed to keep harping on and on - our friends and family are already plenty aware that we make our own music so how much of a difference does it make? 

It actually works and it's the squeakiest, noisiest, pushiest wheels that get the grease. I discovered Zoe Fegan last week, because I used to work with her older sister Claire in a previous job. Claire shared her Facebook post, I saw it, listened to about 30 seconds and decided it was obviously a good little tune, I then shared it on my own and three other social media pages that I run primarily because I like Claire, and she had left a lovely comment on one of my previous music release posts. Hopefully, a few of my friends will listen and so and so on. 

Pleasantries aside, the 30-second snippet of music that I heard more than justified being shared entirely on it's merits. It was instantly memorable piece, the production was great and the song composition quickly got to it's point and strongest features without any time wasted. The melody nestled for a couple of days until I had a proper chance to revisit it with some free time. I found the EP on Spotify and had my 30-minute fat-burner session on the treadmill and gave it a proper listen. 

The opening track - Useless Love - is hit single material, it really is. The obvious reference point is Lily Allen, who I did indeed find nestled on the artists own bio as an influence. The satirical lyrics and their charismatic delivery share much with Ms Allen, whilst the sound is not as overtly modern pop, instead bringing in some more natural, acoustic sounding elements and a little bit of a retro sixties feel, which also brings to mind the work of Ray Davies and the Kinks. Zoe is clearly an excellent linguistic writer in that tradition. 

That said, this is not merely throwback music, and the structural composition and melody arrangement are very strong and very modern, offering a procession of melodic and lyrical hooks to support the witty ideas and colourful descriptive language coupled with some surprising changes of direction and unpredictability that keep you engaged throughout. 

Singer-songwriter Zoe is from Ireland, but is now mainly based around the Liverpool area having graduated from Preston University. This EP was written mainly during lockdown but was recorded between August '22 and November '23 at 3507 Studios in Preston by Nick Sagar. who met Zoe at an open mic night. 

The rest of the EP serves to confirm that Zoe has refined her writing style, her sound, her vision into a great version of that horrible word "brand". She has managed to craft herself a nice little distinctive and easily identifiable niche in the contemporary pop-folk scene. EP title track Half As Much has a beautiful melody that creeps with tiny footsteps around a Beatles-y chords sequence, grows into something of skip by the second verse before taking a run-up and leaping into a full scale melodic dance of a chorus where the double tracked vocal becomes Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers swirling each other around a stage. 

Her voice is unique, strong, clear either when double-tracking it's way round each songs signature hook or weaving delicately in solo verse mode. The harmonies are luscious, rich, quirky and inventive and the guitar playing has been framed by a range of perfectly chosen accompaniments from strings, pianos and a tidy rhythm section. The songs have variety, but retain a singular identity and the quality of writing is sustained throughout. 

Zoe Fegan has all the ingredients to become an established name in the indie-folk scene, and has the uniqueness, strength of character carrying the song-writing skills in her pocket that often require hiring an entire team of writers. Mainstream pop successes could definitely be a part of her future either by finding the right people to wave their magic wands on her behalf, or certainly by the slow, steady and sure method of telling a friend or family member how good this EP is and having them agree and tell two friends and so and so on. This is the type of music for which organic growth seems inevitable.