Faintly rising into focus with a glisten that is both chilling and somewhat comforting as it forms a melody, we discover the opening moments of “Spare Time” ready to greet us like a warm sun breaking the skyline to create a new morning. Long before Izzy Outerspace begins to sing, there’s a sense that we’re about to hear something incredibly personal in this first song from her debut release Amazon, but it isn’t going to be revealed to us in the nearly four minutes the track will last. Unfolding slowly but surely as we’re brought into the soft touch of its brooding title cut, Amazon will tell us everything we need to know about Izzy Outerspace in less than a half hour – and maybe even introduce us to another side of ourselves as well.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/izzyouterspace/
If you find yourself unprepared for the sensuous embrace of “Wildfires” when it climbs out from behind the record’s namesake song, you should know you’re not alone – this track took me by storm and immediately left me in a daze. There’s a certain decadence to the relationship between the vocal and the rollicking guitar element here that made me incredibly emotional when I heard the resulting harmony for the first time, and when consumed alongside something as stiff and blissfully pop-influenced as “Empty,” both songs feel even more powerful. It’s as though Izzy Outerspace is being as introspective as she can in these verses, and thus creating a dreamscape through which we can find shades of our own unique color in the spectrum. It’s avant-garde, yes, but somehow made accessible through the melodic nature of her velvety lead vocal.
“Jump” is one of the darkest tracks here, but much like the preceding songs it greatly benefits from the company it sits beside in Amazon. Conceptually, I think listeners are probably going to get more out of these individual numbers when experiencing them in one sitting, but I will say that “Vietnam” probably has the greatest potential as a single. It’s built like an indie rocker but melodic enough to maintain the pop credibility of its kin here in the tracklist, which isn’t common of a song as emotive as this one is. Along with “Home,” it definitely feels like a good starter piece to touch on the broader artistry of Izzy Outerspace, which despite being new to me is something I want to experience more of in 2021.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Izzy-Outerspace/dp/B08J9FGGP7#ace-g2342880709
Amazon brings us home with the brief and breathtaking “Stars,” a track that initially feels like an homage to the Velvet Underground before taking on an identity truly all its own. When it’s over, Izzy Outerspace’s vocal is still echoing in my mind – reaching out into the ethers as if to be unsatisfied, much as her pleas feel in “Stars.” While I’ve heard a handful of debut works in the past year that I found inspirational, this is one of the only rookie EPs to have affected me on a deeper level. Izzy Outerspace is a healer through harmony, and judging from the ambitiousness of Amazon I would say that her odyssey has just begun.
Garth Thomas