Album Review: REA-'Garden Shed' EP: Fresh folky weave and natural flow from a distinctive new indie-folk voice.

Well Bon Iver had his snowbound cabin in deepest Wisconsin and Brighton based singer songwriter REA had her Dad’s garden shed in rural England. That may not seem quite so cinematic but the peaceful isolation, contemplative space and earthy connectivity of her own creative shelter has shaped a similar resonance in her music. Yes, REA’s debut EP called, naturally, ‘Garden Shed‘, really is that impressive, a four-track song collection that has a coherent vision, beautiful unhurried flow and a dreamy delicacy which you can lose yourself in.

It’s taken a little time for REA to reach the point of sharing her singular, reflective songs with the wider world. In interviews she has said that for a while she was happy writing tunes or recording demos in her garden retreat and was content with keeping things to herself. A move to the Brighton area and the encouragement of a neighbour who produced music convinced her that the time was now.

‘Garden Shed’ is the end result and also the first step in this journey. Out now on all those streaming outposts, the EP was produced by Royal Blood/Sea Power engineer Josh Harrison, who’s clearly followed REA’s intentions and lost none of the woodland soundscape so essential to her folky weave. That collaborative understanding shines through the EP’s opener Talk, a drifting apart song of hushed despair wrapped up in a thrumming acoustic and REA’s softly sad vocal. It’s a voice that captures you gently, melodically crisp but tinged with a whisper, unhurried but calmly expressive. “I heard you moved away last April/You’d outgrown the sea” REA recalls with a turn of phrase that has that natural magic rippling through it. Everything is sensitively understated here, from the breezy swirl of the hook to delicate web of detailing which tingles around the tune, a woozy guitar loop here, a quivering violin there, even a sprinkle of birdsong.

After such a gorgeous start you might expect a dip but Henfield more than carries the momentum. Less layered sonically, just twin dovetailing acoustics and more trilling birds to dapple the songline, it’s got the spirit of REA’s outdoor songwriting/recording process at its heart. Made to yearn more with some uncluttered vocal harmonies the “I’ll get used to it” coda has that rising Adrianne Lenker ache as the resignation hits home. REA’s guiding “Music made in outside spaces” focus also underpins the abstract, drifting wonder of Outside. Written like much of ‘Garden Shed’ with co-composer Leslie Adriaans, the tune mingles live sounds of the countryside with quietly lapping guitars and REA’s gossamer light vocals. Everything converges gracefully with an immersive, almost improvised, feel as the chord sequence circles, strings quiver and REA’s hushed phrases ebb and flow. There’s a warm Vashti Bunyan-esque simplicity going on here and the hint of more experimentation to come as her music grows.

Similarly inventive, Dark by 4 delivers a shimmering end to this accomplished debut set. The dynamic is more widescreen, rainfall sounds, some feedback cries, random piano plinks punctuating the guitars’ tender chime. There’s also a sense of urgency and longing to REA’s tone in this snapshot of some long-distance conversation. “Is It dark by 4 / where you are/ Is that all that we’re fighting for/where you are…” she wonders as the strings add a lush swoon to this ambitious closer.

It’s no surprise to read that REA is one of a group of artists chosen by the PRS Foundation to work on a project with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As ‘Garden Shed’ shows in the crowded world of over-replicating indie folk she is a singer/songwriter who can stand out and captivate through her natural, untampered, up-close songs. Still, you get the feeling that as things scale up for her music, the birdsong, the weather and her pastoral starting points will always remain her close companions.