Big announcement ahoy. I’m delighted to introduce Hannah Nelson-Cole who will be helping out with writing and editing and much more at the blog. I look forward to learning much from her too. Please check out her fantastic first feature below. It’s a review of the sublime new LP by Norwich’s The Rabbitts.
You can also listen to my interview with The Rabbitts on City Sound a few weeks back. Just double click on the image.
Also, in this piece is a Q&A with another incredibly talented musician and actor Evy Frearson. Evy supports The Rabbitts in Colchester soon.
While introducing Hannah, it would be remiss of me to not mention the other wonderful writers who gifted me their precious time when contributing to this blog. I am truly grateful. Take a bow: Andy Mckay, Anthony Gibbons, Chris Adam, Fraser McKay, Ian Griffiths, Joe Harvey, Matthew Tanner, Nick Salter, Reuben McCulloch, Simon Heartfield, and ST Darkers.
Hannah Nelson-Cole
Hi! I am a musician and writer and do this work because I love to connect, appreciate, and share other artists’ material. If you’re interested in reading more of my pieces, I have a small portfolio that is available to view by clicking the link below.
Paradise LP review
The Rabbitts is the wonderful, whimsical (wedded) musical partnership between Lucy May and Odrhan Linsey. Together, they are an undeniably talented duo who have been developing their sound since 2016.
Their musicality is most evident in their ability to each have defined, individual sounds. Achieved without ever sacrificing their cohesion as a unit. Despite their pieces often containing multiple moving parts, the band creates an effortless, natural, and unforced sound.
This free-flowing nature is aided by how their vocals blend with each other and their instruments. The result is a delivery that is impactful yet beautifully understated. May’s voice dances, flips, and breaks in all the right places, with an airiness perfectly suited to the genre. Simultaneously, Linsey holds a warm and earnest tone that provides complementary vocal variation throughout their tracks.
Featuring mandolin, guitar, and fiddle, the band covers a wide range of traditional (and, occasionally, not-so traditional) folk features. The result is a unique and rich sound mural.
As melodies quicken, instruments overlap, and patterns interlace with each other, you find yourself in a naturalistic soundscape brimming with life and colour
Hannah Nelson-Cole
I wrote this little review in anticipation of the fourth album, titled Paradise. Upon first listen, I was delighted at how tracks subtly built into a soft crescendo.
Opening track, ‘Paradise I’ showcases this best. As melodies quicken, instruments overlap, and patterns interlace with each other, you find yourself in a naturalistic soundscape brimming with life and colour. Delightfully – before you ever noticed it growing around you.
This wonderful colour palette is the amalgamation of their lyrical delivery, atypical key changes, and melodies that skip, jump, and float through each track. The cool, sliding melody heard in ‘When I met you’ differentiates itself from that of typical folk music, which was a nice variation.
Concluding thoughts
Paradise is a brilliant representation of how the band has matured
over their ten-year career. It knows exactly what it wants to say and how to say it. Confidence that can only be grown over time. As with their previous releases, the partnership have evidently crafted a project with care. I would certainly recommend taking a trip to your local burrow and give it a gentle listen.
Paradise is out today (13 November). The Rabbitts head off on an Scotland/England 15-date tour soon – please click here for ticket info. The Colchester support is from the outstanding Evy Frearson. Lo and behold, you can catch up with her directly below.
Floating and rocking
Evy Frearson is a Walton on the Naze, Essex-based actor/singer/songwriter who loves to explore storytelling through multiple mediums.
Her writing and playing style is inspired by her love of 70s and 90s legends. Foe example, Stevie Wonder to Jeff Buckley and then to more contemporary artists by the like of Yebba and John Mayer.
She describes her sound “floaty rock” because it covers the light airy and ethereal part of her sound while also coming from a jangly, heavier, and darker place also.
Evy, you have stage and screen acting credits. What inspired the shift from stage/screen to music making?
Since a kid, I’ve always been writing and singing. As I was auditioning more I began finding a comfort in writing music, expressing in a different way that was more personal and cathartic, writing within my own personal experiences. I feel like acting and music intertwine heavily too. When I’m performing my music I dive into some of the acting side and so it felt natural for me to weave into music.
Do you think you’ll ever go back to acting?
Hopefully. It’s another part of what I do. So if the right thing comes up, I’d love to!
You have been quite prolific since your first release in 2023. However, the singles have been quite different in style. Would you say you’re still finding your feet musically? Or did you have a clear plan that each release would follow a different vibe?
When I first started releasing in 2022, I was heavily into writing neo-soul/RnB ( I still am sometimes haha), which two of my releases followed at the start. Then a total vibe shift. I wrote ‘Make Out’, which I released later in ‘22. I really felt where I discovered where I wanted my music to head.
From there was a lot of variety from ‘Sideways Onwards’ – a janglier, grungier sound to ‘Better for you’, which took a softer, floatier approach. Then a few more releases until my EP in ‘25, which was my debut. It was definitely a darker, more rock-influenced body of work along with my constant harmonies and etherealness paving its way though it too.
On to the new stuff and I think it takes everything from before in a way that feels incredibly authentic to me now and also how I’m playing live, so excited to share all of it. I think my sound over the years has grown and changed with me depending and I definitely feels its coming in to a more authentic place now.
Did the utterly fantastic film Lady Bird inspire your latest single?
OMG, you know what? I haven’t seen the film!!! It’s been in my watchlist for too long hahah! Feels wrong of me to have not seen it considering the song, my partner has nagged me to watch it. So definitely gonna be one of my next watches!
Your ‘Ladybird’ single was produced by another rising star Ives Missing. How did that collaboration come about and what did you learn from his approach?
Ives was one of my first producer sessions I got put for, everything else was produced at home or with friends so far. So to go into that session and come out with ‘Ladybird’ in one go was unreal. I learnt so much from Ives, his undeniable talent to just understand a sound instantly and go for it was so inspiring. He’s a good egg.
We love The Rabbitts at Even Butterflies Make A Sound HQ. You must be stoked to support them at Colchester Arts Centre soon?
Unbelievably honoured to supporting them. From what I’ve heard about them I am SO excited to see them live for the first time. To be able to support them is just the icing on the cake, especially somewhere as magical as the arts centre!
After that show, what’s next up for Evy Frearson?
This year has been such a year of discovery along with writing/recording! I cannot wait to release the music I’ve been creating. Like I said earlier, it’s definitely an expansion of my sound feeding into a more authentic one too. A release early next year coinciding with my headline show at the Colchester Arts Centre is next, with my band! Genuinely a dream come true and a real honour! The tickets are available via my website evyfreason.com or the arts centre’s website! Can’t wait, hopefully see you there :).
Thank you Evy for your time. If we catch up at Colchester, I’ll be checking to see if you’ve seen Ladybird by then.
