After many critically acclaimed standalone singles, a prolific singer-songwriter Alwyn Morrison returns with “Heartsplit,” an exceptional extended play consisting of six incredible songs that will instantly appeal to anyone who appreciates music written and performed from the heart. As you already probably know, in an oversaturated music world, many artists and bands fail to deliver original music. They usually overly exploit their influences, experiment too much with their music, mimic the greats, or simply try to reinvent the same old wheel over and over again. Thankfully, Alwyn Morrison avoids all those mistakes and delivers fresh, unique, innovative, exciting music that immediately wraps around the listening apparatus with soulful vocal harmonies, lush soundscapes, and dynamic beats, grabs you by the collar, and leads you on a thrilling voyage through the expansive sonic universe. Lyrically, Morrison explores themes such as love, relationships, various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, diving deep into the essence of what makes us human. It’s a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the broader audience. Sonically, the artist uses all the tools of the trade to deliver a one-of-a-kind listening experience, even to those picky listeners and music enthusiasts who are maybe not into these music genres. He combines singer-songwriting approach with various techniques and many complementary music genres to illustrate luxuriant sonic imagery. This dedication to the craft is rarely heard or seen on a music scene nowadays, but it seems like Alwyn Morrison does it with such ease. You’ll stumble upon so many styles along the way. Maybe alternative rock dominates the most, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from indie rock, indie pop, pop-punk, soft rock, acoustic rock, and many others found their way in this sonic equation. These songs continuously resonate with qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production, yet there’s a subtle touch of nostalgia that sometimes transports you into the nineties or noughties, depending on the current mood of the song. It’s a carefully assembled EP that will definitely suit all those listeners who love the soulful indie rock sound.
This epic sonic journey commences with “A Mile A Minute,” an excellent opening composition that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of the album. With a subtle touch of late nineties pop-punk and a dominant modern indie rock sound, it demonstrates how intelligent, creative, skillful songwriter and composer Alwyn Morrison truly is, as he delivers a fascinating introductory piece that carries all the fundamental elements of those music genres. From outstanding vocal, sonic, and rhythmic performance to excellent production, “A Mile A Minute” carries everything you even needed from a modern indie song. But wait until you hear those perfectly assembled, flawlessly performed, and expertly recorded chord progressions on the next track. “The City,” a homage to New York City, features numerous catchy, memorable, and engaging guitar works. The interplays between acousic and electric guitars shape such a perfect backdrop, suiting Morrison’s exceptional vocal performance. From the opening notes, you’ll fall in love with this song. The chord progressions resonate on one side while the other brings reverby leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers, forming a mesmerizing backdrop. Awlyn Morrison’s vocal performance act as a centerpiece, commanding attention, and guiding listening apparatus from scratch to finish. His voice shines even brighter on “Chained,” a perfect indie ballad where his soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, and powerful performance resonates with such precision and finesse. He seamlessly balances clean and raspy vocal harmonies, floating above all those low, mid, and high notes delivered on acoustic and electric guitars. These are also the moments where you can head how big role the bass guitar play here, as all those rich, warm, deep, dense, heavy notes contribute more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to this track. Same goes to the rhythmic support, as all those hits of the snare, kicks of the bass drum, accentuations over hi-hat, and splashes over the cymbals cut the calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal ambiance and provide more detail to this song.
Morrison introduces more programmed rhyhtmic sequences on “Lenox Hill,” another excellent composition where organic and synthetic instrumentations collide harmoneously. Besides his marvelous vocal performance, which expertly delivers high and low notes with such ease, you’ll notice how incredible synths lead, themes, melodies, and harmonies pair with chord progressions, creating another perfect soundscape that instantly penetrates your listening apparatus. This particular track proves that Alwyn Morrison crafts exceptional music with any tools at his disposal, making him a versatile, skillful, brilliant, standout artist. “Turn The Lights On” channels some classic pop aesthetics through more beautiful vocal harmonies, lush keys, catchy guitar works, intricate basslines, and punchy beats. This particular composition contains an addictive, hypnotic, irresistible chorus that immediately forces you to sing and dance along. The song becomes even more complex towards the end, with the additional vocal layers and back vocals giving the anthemic vibes. This sonic voyage closes with “Maybe In Another World,” a stripped-down ballad adorned with another barrage of mesmerizing vocal lines, synth ambiance, and lush guitar works. Although stripped down to just a few instruments, it sounds so deep, rich, and complex, proving that Alwyn Morrison’s songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing skills are unmatched. It serves as a perfect closure while inviting you to spin this excellent extended play all over again.
With his debut extended play, Alwyn Morrison proves that indie music can still sound fresh, unique, and exciting by simply breaking the rules and shapeshifting the boundaries of the genre. He subtly incorporated the additional styles, elements, details, and nuances while simultaneously remaining true to the initial sonic direction. It’s a perfect soundtrack for any mood and situation. “Heartsplit” is such a beautiful piece of work that vividly showcases all the qualities of an exceptional singer-songwriter. Alwyn Morrison’s experience, knowledge, talent, creativity, and skills are on full display here, as he distilled all these qualities into brilliant ideas and marvelous musicianship, vividly hearable in each segment of every song. His music tackles senses in a way only a few singer-songwriters can do, so “Heartsplit” unquestionably deserves your immediate attention. Head to your favorite streaming platform and check it out.
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