Eliza Shaddad – Future

Honesty is the loudest component of Eliza Shaddad’s debut album Future. Her breathy earnestness is like being given a private reading of her journal, and the backdrop to these confessions is a post-rock haze that conjures an unwavering aura of nostalgia.

Future is a firm advancement from her previous EPs, Run and Waters. The layers and textures here are almost tangible, like an alluring fabric that envelops sonically. Instrumentation weaves delicately around her lyrics, and even when it builds into a mightier presence on cuts like the bassy Your Core her voice is never compromised. Daydreaming’s bright and lofty existence is a joyful midway point, a pit-stop from the moody pensiveness. The Conclusion’s foray into trip-hop is a welcome addition to her established sound, a path that would be encouraged for Shaddad to venture further down.

Opening track White Lines portrays her as a prudent soul, striving to shrug off the burdens of her past in order to see optimism in what lies ahead. My Body not only encapsulates the album’s air in one neatly confident package, but it perfectly realises the restlessness of a head full of thoughts and doubts: 'Still I twist and turn until I’m tired enough that I can blur / The empty space of my reality.' Her poetry throughout the album encourages multiple plays in order to dissect its nuances, uncover fresh meanings, and learn more of her character. 

Shaddad’s lyrics are perfectly rounded and weighted, like pebbles ripe for skimming, and she hurls them out with such conviction that following their paths toward the horizon is a wholly captivating affair. Her zephyr-like voice acts as a guide through her mind, gentle yet assured, and the tone of her delivery illustrates the grey intricacies that shade her world: past, present and future.

Listen to: My Body, The Conclusion, Are You There?