EP Review: Dead Ends

Dead Ends is CRYSTAL’s four track sophomore EP, and is a wonderful mix of electronic pop, indie, trap, and hints of punk. The vocals are very stylistic, moving through various digital effects including artistic autotune, and a vocoder, which creates a very interesting and distorted edge to the songs. This collection is made up of the latest four singles CRYSTAL has released and has been working on for two years. The EP opens on Break, a song in line with the overall theme of the EP, dealing with various difficult and turbulent times, and fighting with self-motivation. At the end of the song, CRYSTAL insists that despite the hardships, she “[doesn’t] give up.”

My personal favourite song on this EP was Skin. It’s a breath of fresh air in a time of despair, reminding yourself of what you really want to experience in life. The chorus is a wonderfully open mix, featuring panned vocals, and the instrumental is a perfect balance between upbeat and motivation, and nostalgic and dreamy.

The EP closes out on Pressure, a song most sonically like Skin, but a ballad bringing us back to the overwhelmed, intense feeling of the EP, however with a little more optimism this time. CRYSTAL has said herself that it’s her own comfort song to get her through hard days, with its “fake-it-till-you-make-it energy.” Pressure is her first collaboration with writer and producer Oscar Sharah.

Dead Ends encapsulates the feeling of moving forward through a strange, tumultuous time, and mixes various genres quite elegantly. As the title would suggest, it is a great, empathetic accompaniment for anyone who feels as if they’re at a dead end.