EP Reviews: Rounding The Corner with Actress, Glorilla and Ruth Radalet

Dummy Corporation EP - Actress

Actress is a British house and electronica act that I admittedly should have been paying more attention to in the time I've been reviewing music. While most of the biggest highlights from the project came before I started, they have still released some interesting house and dance music worth covering in the past few years and after hearing this new EP which dabbles in micro house and ambient techno, I knew I had to cover it. Though it's only 4 tracks the EP runs about 40 minutes and nearly half of that is taken up by the monster title track which kicks the record off and spans just under 19 minutes. It starts with a long ambient intro that you may not realize is a build-up at first, but around five minutes in it starts to work towards the core of the song with gentle vocal samples, glittery synths, and steady pounding percussion. While I think the full length of the song might be a little bit more indulgent than necessary I also think it's there to prove a point and the extended fade-out feels pretty necessary after everything that preceded it. The middle two tracks which both reach over 5 minutes are still slimmer by comparison. The first Futur Spher Techno Version is a very reserved icy piece of micro-house that doesn't necessarily do a whole ton of developing but I don't really have any issues with the approach it takes. By comparison Fragments Of A Butterfly's Face is much louder and more forward feeling more like conventional house with the thudding drums and obscured dark synth lines. This track definitely grabs me more than the previous one with the subtler twists and turns that I look for in a good house song. And speaking of subtle despite being the loudest thing on this record the track still makes very little use of some typical house conventions and has the reservation to keep from setting up any kind of bombastic drops or loops, which I think would throw off the vibe of the entire EP. My only complaint about the song is how little weight and attention is given to how it concludes. Finally, there's the closing track and lead single Dream which is why I was even aware of this EP in the first place. Not that I thought it was an amazing song or single, just that it grabbed my attention enough to get me curious and as I've heard it so many times now it's grown on me. I think the shifts between passages can be handled a bit clunky, particularly the first one when the track plays out its vocal sample to try something a little harder and more techno for a bit just to return to pretty much the exact same loop a minute later. It's not a perfect song but the second half gets along a lot smoother and once again I think the way the track finishes has enough care put into it to fittingly end the project off. While I wasn't blown away by this EP, I did like it, and more importantly, it was long overdue that I get some thoughts on Actress posted to this blog. 7/10

Anyways, Life's Great... EP - GloRilla

GloRilla is a Tennessee rapper who's had a pretty big breakout 2022. She had a top 10 hit with Cardi B which shows up on this EP and another single with Hitkidd that's not nominated for a Grammy and it also shows up in this tracklist. While I haven't been blown away by her output thus far I do see a ton of potential in the intensity of her delivery and that's pretty much still how I feel coming off of this EP. My biggest complaint about the record is how little GloRilla brings to these tracks beyond just her vocals. While she does consistently perform with an intensity that is hard to match I can't say much of the writing and song structures here are doing much to reinforce that intensity. There are a few exceptions. I like the hook of Unh Unh quite a bit and the closing track Out Loud Thinking actually does help you get a slightly better image of her as a person. But Tomorrow 2 with Cradi B is a perfect example of how a rapper with a more distinguished personality can come in and completely steal the show. I don't think the project is bad because there's an occasional funny punchline or halfway-decent beat, but all things considered, I think GloRilla fails to separate herself from her contemporaries beyond the obvious. She has a LOT of potential and I'm excited to see her explore it on a full-length record, but the shortcomings of this EP are unfortunately way too clear to me after a few listens. 5/10

The Other Side EP - Ruth Radelet

Ruth Radelet is a former co-lead singer of Chromatics, an inconsistent band with a great peak who broke up last year. After a few singles The Other Side is Ruth's first project as a solo artist and while I haven't seen a ton of coverage of it, it's clear that many of her Chromatics fans have followed her to this EP. While I wasn't head over heels for either of the singles I still saw the potential in a collection of dreamy ballads from Ruth and to some extent that's exactly what I got. These songs are slow developing but with a dramatic and nocturnal edge that you'll find familiar if you like dream pop or shoegaze. The difference is these instrumentals never really reach those same high points of dreaminess or density, instead maintaining a pretty polite demeanor throughout. That may sound like a complaint but I'm actually kind of glad the instrumentals never really reach the point where they drown out Ruth's gentle, intimate singing style. Also the range of instrumentation here seems appropriately picked out, glittered with piano and synths that make the shimmering qualities of the EP shine. I can't exactly say the songwriting grabs me, but in that same vein there are plenty of individual moments whose luster I can't deny. It's a bit of a mixed bag but just as it fails to deliver many highlights, it also avoids any pitfalls along the way. I'm looking forward to what Ruth does next. 6.5/10