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Music review: Strange Place To Meet - Esther Lowless | 5/5

Nothing quite prepares you for Esther Lowless’ debut EP, Strange Place To Meet. It is an exploration of a harrowing personal encounter with nervous breakdown, a concept that is difficult to execute effectively in a musical work. But Lowless does it with great aplomb. Her courage to address this issue and her ability to be able to convey the emotional trauma and confusion is nothing short of brilliant. From the disturbing combination of Birth, The Visitant, Why and Reflections, Lowless brings us on her misadventure with a collage of eerie vocals, whispering voices, hammering piano, screeching violins, backward sound effects and trip-hop rhythms. The sweet Everything (feat. Mark John Hariman) wraps things up nicely with a childlike ballad that will send shivers down your spine with its simple beauty. With the concluding Circles And Cycles, which repeats concepts and motifs previously raised, Lowless delivers an intriguing instrumental coda to a truly amazing journey. Even without the accompanying music films as elaboration, it’s no stretch of the imagination to consider Lowless’ Strange Place To Meet a landmark for the Singapore art scene and deserves to be recognised from that perspective. Encore!

Nothing quite prepares you for Esther Lowless’ debut EP, Strange Place To Meet. It is an exploration of a harrowing personal encounter with nervous breakdown, a concept that is difficult to execute effectively in a musical work. But Lowless does it with great aplomb. Her courage to address this issue and her ability to be able to convey the emotional trauma and confusion is nothing short of brilliant. From the disturbing combination of Birth, The Visitant, Why and Reflections, Lowless brings us on her misadventure with a collage of eerie vocals, whispering voices, hammering piano, screeching violins, backward sound effects and trip-hop rhythms. The sweet Everything (feat. Mark John Hariman) wraps things up nicely with a childlike ballad that will send shivers down your spine with its simple beauty. With the concluding Circles And Cycles, which repeats concepts and motifs previously raised, Lowless delivers an intriguing instrumental coda to a truly amazing journey. Even without the accompanying music films as elaboration, it’s no stretch of the imagination to consider Lowless’ Strange Place To Meet a landmark for the Singapore art scene and deserves to be recognised from that perspective. Encore!

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