REVIEW: 'TAY JARDINE' BY TAY JARDINE

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This week saw the return of Tay Jardine with her first creative endeavour in half a decade, a self-titled EP that draws sharp focus to an individuality once quietly existent beneath her more eccentric projects. Each of the five tracks feels like a conversation with an old friend, as she lets you get to know her more closely than she once had time to. Everything about this project feels slower, more personal. It's just Tay here, and that is enough.

True indulgence in 'Tay Jardine' requires an understanding of its vulnerability. Jardine is no longer where she once was, masqueraded by the skinny jeans and technicolour of projects past, instead finding herself on a path of emotional maturity and authentic artistry. The impressive shift from what is familiar to Jardine's fans may be a risky one, but it promises to strengthen the connection with those that wish to grow with her.

Much of Jardine's strength lies in her delivery; the warmness with which she can present tracks as painful as 'Linear' seems to become richer with age. The first is a humble track, a beautiful offering of nostalgic relation between artist and audience that will inevitably rekindle relationships between the two. It sets the precedent of 'Tay Jardine' being an ode to the past, but a welcoming of who Jardine is becoming.

The next track, however, feels a little murkier in its execution of this. Lead single 'Bad News', while a sonically impressive lovechild of We Are The In Crowd and Sainte, never quite illuminates Jardine's evolution like its siblings. It simply feels flat against the organic, reachable, human essence the rest of the EP wants us to explore in its namesake.

Despite this, the latter half of 'Tay Jardine' feels much more aligned with its seeming intentions. Both 'Monster' and 'Tightrope' are much more polished and substantial, each bearing tall windows to showcase Jardine's growth in her years of absence. They demonstrate the delicate balance between scathing lyrics and clean and deliberate articulation, retaining a gentleness that gives the listening experience a stunningly intimate quality.

The EP concludes with the ruminative 'Tongue Tied', an exercise in introspection that confirms Jardine's return to be a particularly valuable one. It's a real tear-jerker that foregrounds the importance of self-realisation in spite of its difficulties and growing pains, unbelievably strong on all fronts. It offers one of the brightest highlights of this release, and for what it's worth, there are quite a few.

You can check out 'Tay Jardine' below:

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