Eloise's 'Somewhere In-Between' Is a Sublime R&B Escape
Photo: Charlotte Patmore
Maybe the word is transcendent, or spiritual, or sublime. Whatever phrase you favor, you know the feeling I'm talking about - the way a good song can transport you beyond the physical into the otherworldly. Not quite heaven but also not earth. Somewhere In-Between. Which is, by no coincidence, also the title of Eloise's latest nine-track release, a delightfully dreamy escape that the romantics among us will be sure to devour.
"It's all about growing pains, growing up, and how love changes form and meaning," she shares, referencing the growth she experienced during her first extended tour. "I went on tour when I was 18 and when I came back I was 20. My whole life had changed in between that time and I hadn't noticed," she continues.
The changes were good - advancing her career, finding a new love interest - but change itself is unsettling and Eloise poured the emotion of that experience into her songwriting, reckoning with these shifts in tracks like "Enough" and "Who's She."
"It's kind of about letting go of the old idea of what love was and loves that went with that," says Eloise, who credits romantic love as one of her biggest inspirations. "It's all consuming and what makes us alive."
When you listen to each song, you can understand this process of hopeful catharsis and falling in love - and it's not just because of the lyrics. Eloise masterfully employs elements of jazz, folk, and even hints of musical theater to make her point. The result is a wonderfully nostalgic yet purposefully current and evocative sound.
On tracks like "Trick of the Moon," you can almost imagine her singing in an old-timey lounge about the pitfalls of love. It's a definite nod to the great female jazz performers who came before her, and Eloise pulls it off. Make sure you listen to the very last "moon" to get the complete feeling. She further showcases her range on "BAMO," a bright, bluesy, pop-inspired track and "Wanderlust," a sweetly acoustic love song. There's something for everyone on this album.
For a trip to the sublime, a momentary escape from this world into an ethereal dreamscape, trust Somewhere In-Between to take you there from start to finish.
Listen to Somewhere In-Between below:
