Mabes – Keeping The Noise Down

After weeks of single releases Mabes is finally ready to share her whole new EP with the world. The Americana-via-Billericay folk-pop four-track Keeping The Noise Down is an enticing and invigorating collection of tunes that owes as much to Nashville as it does to the best of UK pop.

The title track’s central conceit is one that many will empathise with – an ode to social anxiety – and Mabes manages to capture the moment perfectly with a track that takes its surprisingly poignant lyrics and turns them into something almost anthemic. Mabes embraces the problem and amplifies it for greater awareness to amazing effect.

This theme of taking and running with adversity runs through the rest of the EP – again some stunning provoking songwriting shows itself on ‘Stuck in the Rain’ with its opening bars – “Calling all souls lost in the wind. Calling all hearts beginning again” – a shout out to those who aren’t in the best of places. With this whole release Mabes is taking a stand and making it her own.

It’s hard to believe that we’re only a year into Mabes career and we’re already seeing a release that shines as strongly as this one. Keeping The Noise Down is a showcase for a songwriter who ‘gets it’ and it’s an EP that will remain a source of comfort for many.