Lizzie Esau talks new EP, tour, and her musical inspirations.

One of our favourite North Eastern resident artists talks to me about her highly anticipated EP, Deepest Blue, which will be released this Friday!

When it comes to young talented people, the North East can boast—particularly regarding musicians. In the past few years, it seems that the music scene in The Toon has just carried on growing, with the obvious figurehead of Sam Fender mostly leading the way.

What piqued my interest in this music scene, however, was a smaller artist. Still based in the North East, but with a sound that pushed through multiple genre barriers and lyrics that were piercingly honest.

This was, and is, Lizzie Esau.

Emerging in mid-2021 with the punchy single, What If I Just Kept Driving, Esau left us with no doubt that she is a force to be reckoned with and an artist to watch. Her unique sound spans several genres including grunge, shoegaze, dance and dreampop.

Since Esau first threw her hat into the ring, she has been met with praise from critics and is even set to play Boardmasters Festival alongside Lorde, Florence + The Machine and Liam Gallagher, as well as Tramlines Festival on 21st July.

And what better way to burst onto the stage of Tramlines than with a new EP to share with the masses that very day?

“I’d like people to learn about my honest lyrics and storytelling,” Esau tells Sound of the Toon.

“In this EP, I’m very open about big moments in my life, and share them through music as a form of therapy”.

In a time where bops reign supreme, sometimes it’s difficult to find songs with the gut-punching lyrics that Esau’s songs possess. Her current most streamed song on Spotify is Bleak Sublime, and its popularity may be to do with how personal the song truly is. It draws in on themes of identity crisis, pain suppression, and wanting to feel truly alive, all over a moody riff and beat. Lizzie, like many of the greats, clearly channels all her feelings through music to process it better.

“The main inspiration [for the new EP] was all my emotions at the time of writing each song, which spans over the last year. Lyrically it’s an extremely personal piece of work, but I’m hoping this means others can relate to it.”

And if it's anything like her other belters, we are in for an emotional rollercoaster.

With some artists being afraid of putting their most personal feelings out for the world to hear, I asked Lizzie which songs were the hardest to write.

“All of the songs came easily as they were such current topics in my mind, however the most personal to write was Roadkill, it’s definitely the darkest song on the EP, but has real power and anger behind it. It’s great to scream this one on stage!”

With only 9 songs currently released, there is something tantalising about Esau and her music, the small number of songs leaves us wanting more constantly. But for now, less is more may be Lizzie’s slogan. If it is, it’s working. Each song is crafted expertly and Lizzie’s smoky vocals drifting through creates an immersive experience for the listener.

When asked musically what the inspiration for Deepest Blue musically was, Lizzie stated: “We wanted to keep it exciting and powerful, as well as emotional. I feel like especially with the new single Lazy Brain, we really managed to get the music reflecting the chaotic themes in the lyrics well, which I’m very happy about!”

For me, visualising music is important. I like to be able to listen to songs and be able to see colours, visuals and the artist coming through the lyrics. Apparently, the fact I can see colours when listening to music is something called ‘Synesthesia’, and artists like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have also said they have it. I’m not sure how real it is, but, nonetheless.

I think it is fun to visualise the colours of songs in the creative process, and I asked Lizzie to do just that.

“Lazy Brain would be blue as we did a lot of the shooting for the cover and the video in the bath, and it’s the lead single for Deepest Blue. Roadkill, black, as it is the heaviest song on the EP lyrically and musically. Jellyfish would be pink as the song has a lot of attitude, energy and a boppy chorus. Finally, Bleak Sublime would be green as, to me, this song is quite soothing and tranquil, especially at the start. Green is a very calming colour to me.”

With all the amazing talent coming out of the North East, and the UK in general, I was interested to see who Lizzie was currently admiring. I find it fascinating when other artists reveal who their dream collaboration would be, and this is what Esau had to say about her dream collaboration for this EP:

“I think I’d have to go with Wunderhorse, I still can’t stop listening to their album and I think the lead singer [Jacob Slater]’s vocal and harmonies on some of my tracks would be absolutely dreamy.”

Wunderhorse is an exceptional band that has recently been supporting Sam Fender at his sold-out, legendary St. James’ Park gigs, as well as in Dublin and Belfast. The lead vocals and lyrics are reminiscent of Pulp, and much of their music, like Lizzie’s, is totally immersive and exciting. These are another one to watch.

And as for playing live, you can expect Lizzie to be on a headline tour in November, where she will be playing all of these highly anticipated songs from her EP, and more.

If you haven’t already, check Lizzie’s music out, and click here to pre-save her new EP, Deepest Blue, coming to rock us all on 21st July!

As always, stay tooned for more…