Since 2016, Sarah Howells has been making beautiful music with her solo venture, Bryde. We were teased with the phenomenal debut of EP1 and the brilliance of EP2 quickly followed. In 2017, Bryde started the teasing again releasing new tracks Less & Desire, both included on this album.
To Be Brave, Peace, Steady Heart and Euphoria all dropped previous to release, whetting our appetite even more.
An easy intro acts as an almost fragile and vulnerable starter, building the story and sweeping you up in the emotive wave of pure open-hearted passion. The whole album brings a weak and scared person one minute, with breathy vocals of hurt and anxiety before tearing it open wide in a crash of heavy drum, grungy guitar and screaming angst. Sarah’s voice and inspirational lyric really draw you into her world. She expresses every feeling through these, whether its joy and pain or love and hate. Euphoria gives you a soft, sweet and beautiful moment of respite with piano-based ease.
“It feels like euphoria, coming out of the dark, like an island”
There’s a couple of tracks on here that you might recognize. From the 2015 Chocolate Factory Sessions, is a nicely polished version of Handstands and from EP2, the vocally outstanding Transparent. Sandwiched between those two, you get a filling of 90’s kind of alt. rock and grunge with a sprinkling of upbeat goodness.
And just to remind us how raw and beautiful Bryde is, she leaves us with a perfectly simple guitar and vocal track, Steady Heart.
Bryde is brilliant. Like An Island is bliss.
Go To Tracks – SO difficult to choose but the songs that stand out for me are To Be Brave, Handstands and Desire Rating - 5/5
Bryde is currently on an extensive tour and I suggest you go check out Sarah and the band live! I saw them last time around and can't wait for their return to Cardiff this month (April '18)
I'll be picking my stunning mustard-coloured vinyl there but if you can't get to a live show, then go to Brydes official website to order a copy or maybe one of the brilliant bundles she has available! For that and all things Bryde head to -