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We often peg personal albums as being “about” things – a pivotal event like a breakup, death, the birth of a child, a marriage, and so forth. It is often a myth that diminishes the imaginative power great songwriters bring to their chosen art. In Anjali Ray’s work, songs are a sort of ongoing personal diary charting the trajectory of her individual growth rather than zeroing in on a particular turning point that’s tethered to a single moment. Her life, as reflected in the songs on her new EP Dark Side, is a continuous series of turning points and she shows tremendous skill for framing them in compelling musical narratives.
The first cut “Leave Everyone Behind” is a strong opener. It’s arguably the most nuanced track on the EP thanks to the numerous turns and shifts it takes along the way, but there’s a continuous thread stringing listeners along. Ray takes on an acoustic profile for these six songs, for the most part, and leans more heavily on her folkie influences here than elsewhere. They’re filtered, however, through pop and advanced compositional sensibilities that ultimately pay off handsomely for listeners.
We move from a relatively lean and spartan attack with the opener into something much grander with the second song “California”. This is a big screen piece propelled by rich synth textures and a sense of dramatic gravitas absent from the album’s remaining five cuts. It isn’t to their detriment; they simply have a different purpose. It’s likewise a defining track insofar as it shows how Ray exercises considerable aplomb in framing her life experiences for listeners in a near-cinematic narrative. Both the lyrics and music work together to achieve impressive effects.
It’s easy to understand why Ray pegged “Apple of My Eye” as a single. It bristles with energy and warmth alike and the central melodic hook is uncluttered and instantly memorable. The vocal melody never outright mimics its instrumental counterpart and Ray’s singing achieves a cool confidence that ingratiates itself with listens. The discontent and heartache rife throughout “Tesla” doesn’t mean it is incapable of uplift. Ray’s penchant for crafting memorable melodies serves her well once again and counterbalances the overall darker mood of the work. Its lyrics are among the EP’s finest; the confluence of idiosyncratic and familiar imagery in the song’s conversational lines makes for effective songwriting.
“Middle of the Night” puts a bold exclamation point on the release. It’s dark night of the soul time, in some respects, though the bracing energy of the closer’s rock guitar attack gives this cut a distinctly different “face” than its predecessors. Ray sells the song with the same mix of delicacy and power defining the preceding five songs and we never lose our connection with her amidst the pseudo-rock trappings of the piece. Anjali Ray’s Dark Side is a thoroughly mature work, though brief, and solidifies her standing as one of the most challenging yet rewarding indie songwriters working today. If you value unvarnished honesty, and the soul open to all, then you’ll adore this release.
Jennifer Munoz
