Image by Uncredited
Singer songwriter Eve Simpson, South Shields born, and Edinburgh based releases new music this month. ‘All Her Strange’ is a grand mix thematically. An EP concerned with growing up in the midst of heartbreak, grief and misogyny but mostly it’s an exploration of love. Of the self primarily and then about finding that in others.
There’s also a genuine feeling of the heart as home, “I’m proud of my roots in the north east, it’s something my mum instilled in me and it’s stuck, and they come out more when I perform in Edinburgh or Glasgow”.
Explaining how she forms her music Simpson elaborates, “The most compulsive need to write comes when I’m feeling stressed or busy and need to perform an intervention, almost, just sit down at the piano with my guitar and write whatever comes out. It’s great because at the end I have a song but it’s not a process I’m aware of anyone else having when I’m sharing how I write.” This cathartic release touches the lyrics most when the emotions are particularly fresh. She continues, “Some songs like Old College (on the EP) are hard to get through so I try not to practice it too much. It’s about heartbreak and for whatever reason it still feels raw when I sing it whereas other songs don’t”.
You can definitely feel these prickly edges within the sweet melodies when they’re intended. Eve’s emotive voice and song arrangements have been honed with years of writing, playing live and recently working with studio producers in Blank Studios, Newcastle and Haquin Studios, Leith, thanks to support from the Youth Music NextGen Fund. “Through working on a previous project, I discovered the fund supported individual artists and applied. It’s been great because it’s hard to fund studio time and pay people the union rates that they deserve otherwise.”
The time and advice have been pivotal in fleshing out the four songs on the EP, recorded with only some minor additions, “We added flute lines and other parts to some songs in production but with “Old College” it’s pretty much as written just re-recorded through better equipment.”
We talk about promoting your music and touch on a subject very close to Simpson’s heart, the mental health of those working in the music industry. She attended the Ivor Novello Awards in 2022 as an In The Room representative for the Ivors Academy. She advocates, “cutting yourself some slack given there’s only so much time in the day.”
“I love the challenge and creation” … of promotion and video production… “but don’t want to advocate for a technology that can also affect people’s mental health so much. It can take so long to create good content like the “His Euphoria” video. I knew what I wanted with the dancing, how it would fit the format and got excited, but it takes such a long time to make.”
It’s definitely time well spent though as Eve Simson returns to the region, Xerox, Newcastle on 21st April as part of her first UK tour, taking in venues in Scotland and England. “I’m excited to get out and experience the collaborative shows with the band and other artists that we’ve traded support slots with before in each other’s hometowns and shows.”
