While a good number of artists, musicians especially, rebranded during the lockdown, others like Stephanie Weaver, rediscovered their love for music. On her five-track debut EP, Waves, the budding singer pulled inspiration afforded to her by isolation and made her passion the center of this life-affirming project.
Waves, a title bereft of fantasies but hinged on shocking and occasionally soothing realities, is the befitting name given to the EP and it chronicles stark experiences colored in Weaver’s pacific tenor, her penchant for genre-fluid sounds that leave indelible marks, a malleable attitude that blends with whatever narrative she’s offering and a formidable partnership with social media darling, Ditweni, whose instrumentals are the perfect accompaniment to Weaver’s varying life stories on Waves.
Opener, I Know, propped on Weaver’s sun sign and a character comparison to a samurai is enough indication of the tough texture of her personality, in and out of music and the perfect pacesetter for the remaining four tracks, all hinged on the different realities that make a world that can only be described as sweet, sassy and soulful. This balanced mix of different personas allows for the variety Weaver offers. The ensuing track, Gimme That, a percussion-powered allusion to sensual feelings does so much in smoothening out the jagged edges revealed on I Know. The rhythmic Computer Games blends the best of her edgy and emotive side while Give Me A Chance, with its dependence on stringy acoustics is the best depiction of Weaver’s pen game. In a way that juxtaposes the sassiness of I Know, closer, Dead Butterflies is the perfect comparison of the sass and soul that rules this EP. Over sweet keys and dense bass drums, Weaver tells an enrapturing story that encapsulates all her fascinating features and, seals a deal that guarantees her a spot in the industry.
A new and laudable approach to debuts, Waves puts Stephanie Weaver’s range and versatility on display, allowing her tamed extraordinariness to bask in the center of a lockdown-inspired passion that birthed a brand now on our radar.