“I’ve Been Here” is the latest release by Elise, an outstanding Irish singer-songwriter based in Kilkenny. It’s her second piece of work in 2025, arriving as an adequate continuation of “Remember” and “I Don’t Mind,” two exceptional singles released in 2024 and 2025 that you should also check out as soon as possible. These two songs vividly showcase what you might expect from the remainder of the material. Lyrically, “I’ve Been Here” explores themes such as love, relationships, various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, so it’s a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the crowd. Her poetic, storytelling lyricism immediately grabs you by the collar and forces you to pay attention to these songs, even after “I’ve Been Here” ends. Sonically, Elise combines a singer-songwriter approach with many complementary music genres to illustrate such luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps indie rock comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the finest elements borrowed from indie pop, indie folk, soft rock, and alt-pop found their way into this sonic equation. She uses all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to elevate her music to new heights while simultaneously staying loyal to the primary sonic direction. Elise’s music blends all those qualities that meet the trends of contemporary music production yet there’s a subtle touch of nostalgia lurking around that undoubtedly gives an extra kick to the entire material. Therefore, these experimentations with different approaches and different styles resulted in a magnificent EP that will resonate not only with indie fans but also with picky listeners looking for a catchy, memorable, engaging listening experience.
This epic sonic journey commences with “Remember,” a marvelous composition where Elise combines only the finest elements of indie and folk music. Her soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, and powerful vocal performance elevates the entire song to new heights, commands attention, and guides the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. In the meantime, the interplay between guitars shapes a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon while the equally impressive basslines and moderate, well-accentuated rhythmic sequences dictate groove and pace. Things become even more interesting with “Damn Questions,” an exploration into more soulful parts of indie and alternative rock music. The artist uses almost the same formula, but this particular track resonates with even more layers of sound thanks to the additional piano leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, chord progressions, accentuations, etc. It’s nearly mindblowing how all these elements articulate together without overwhelming each other while Elise’s vocal performance shines in the limelight. “I Don’t Mind” leans much more toward alt-pop and indie pop side, with all those half-time beats, intricate low-ends, delicate keys, and lush chord progression and accentuations. Each segment arrives with an entire amalgam of fascinating instrumentations that perfectly suit Elise’s voice. In the meantime, her impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with precision and finesse, emphasizing everything she intended to achieve with this song. “You Always Told Me” incorporates all the mentioned instruments yet this track floats indie folk waters. However, there are elements of classic rock’n’roll, vividly hearable in all those jaw-dropping guitar works. Elise’s songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing skills and techniques truly shine here, as she delivers marvelous compositions where cleverly assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics blend with rich, deep, heavy, warm-sounding basslines while the incredible guitar layers collide with subtle piano performance. It’s a catchy song that immediately gets into your ears and refuses to let go long after this EP ends. This epic sonic journey ends with “What Are You Gonna Do,” a beautiful ballad that sums up everything. Although many ballads come with stripped-down arrangements, that’s not the case with this number. Quite the contrary, this song arrives with all those qualities mentioned in previous songs. “What Are You Gonna Do” has that hypnotic, addictive, irresistible calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal ambiance that wraps around your ears and transports you to a different realm. The comprehensive collection of wisely and tastefully assembled instrumentations guides you from beginning to end, leaving you with a feeling to spin this marvelous EP over and over again.
“I’ve Been Here” is an indie masterpiece that immediately gets under your skin with its infectious vocal and instrumental harmonies, melodies, themes, and leads. It’s one of those EPs that carries everything you dearly love about indie folk, indie rock, indie pop, and alt-pop, but don’t be surprised if you stumble upon some elements borrowed from other styles as well. Elise’s ability to convey complex and meaningful themes with such precision and finesse goes beyond comprehension so many times during the entire material. Her experience, knowledge, talent, skills, ideas, and musicianship shine here. “I’ve Been Here” is one of the best indie EPs you’ll stumble upon this year. Therefore, don’t miss it. It’s available on all streaming platforms.
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