Sometimes there is an artist that just connects with a magical part of your soul that not everything you listen to, and even like, manages to reach.
Lizzie Reid is such a musician. Whether she is sawing away at those heartstrings or taking off into your cerebral cortex with optimism and hope, she burrows into your very being and clings on.
It is often a feeling that cannot be articulated, but mostly in Lizzie’s case it is her voice that manages to have the quality of appearing to be in the same room as you, sat just behind you, or on your shoulder, occasionally soothing, it can also devastate, but more over it feels lived. A voice can be beautiful and you believe every word they’re singing but their experience doesn’t live in that voice, every crack as the emotion pours out; this is perfection. Not an autotuned, faultless, seamless, inhuman, pitch perfect, monotonous thing.
Mooching comes only a year after her debut EP Cubicle which was lockdown-recorded in her flat and was a minimalistic masterpiece. This is far more expansive and has the added heft dealt by her collaboration with Frightened Rabbit‘s Andy Monaghan.
Mooching opens with ‘Love Of Her Life with noticeably rich production from the residential studio they sat up camp in. It is mixed loud, which means you hear every inflexion and enunciation from Lizzie, with incredibly effective lower range harmonies. The guitar is reverb soaked and sounds melancholic and moody. It seems to act like a bridge from Cubicle to Mooching, bringing the same aesthetic that ‘Bible’ echoes but has organ textures and again there are much bigger production values that raise everything up a level.
‘Bible’ is, on its own merits before the studio adds its lacquer, a beautiful song. The organ is a clever inclusion, taking the religious overtones of the title and making it feel like it’s being played in a church.
‘Soda Pop Stream’ is where the full band sings for the first time. The harmonies are brilliantly done and recorded, but this explodes into life with a huge guitar solo that is drenched in fuzz and the chaotic energy flies out of the speakers.
‘How Do I Show My Love’ is so brittle and heart-wrenching, the keys sound like a Hammond which instantly makes the sound classic. This song is possibly the epicentre currently of Lizzie’s output that showcases her voice. The diction of every word makes it strike you straight in the gut, you feel everything she feels. The crack and husky end of certain lines just elevate her above so many of her peers. One of the most perfect songs released this year.
Finally, ‘Warpaint’ concludes everything with a guitar so heavy in reverb it merges together into a glorious melange. The poppiest song she has created; it leaves everything in an optimistic mood.
The only grumble; it’s too bloody short. Always leave us wanting more. The next step is surely an LP, and the evolution so far is illustrating an artist approaching the peak of their powers with an armoury of styles to choose from. If there’s any justice in the world everyone will know the name Lizzie Reid very soon. Something’s got to give, hasn’t it?!?
