Soap&Skin
Narrow

The first thing that comes to mind is that "Narrow" is an EP that Soap&Skin has released to silence the hordes of fans demanding new material to continue worshiping her. And indeed, this is how we must analyze this work: as something temporary to quench the thirst that the 3 years since "Lovetune For Vacuum" have unleashed.

In fact, the EP does not represent any revolutionary evolution and does not possess a concept that unites the various tracks (perhaps the theme of loss, given the passing of her father, but we were already accustomed to that, and some songs originated before this event). It is just a collection of songs, some of which were already present in the live performances of the Austrian singer. The cover of "Voyage, Voyage" provides further proof of how Anja Plaschg manages to personalize everything she touches, in "Cradlesong" and "Wonder" we are able once again to see the remote mountain village (Gnas, just over a thousand inhabitants) where Soap&Skin comes from, in "Deathmental" and "Big Hand Nails Down" we are reminded that in addition to classical, the 22-year-old also has a passion for the extensive use of electronics (once again used in a peculiar and disturbing way like an added voice to the chaotic darkness of the singer's soul), in "Vater", sung in German and dedicated to her father, we find the true point of conjunction with the piano style of the first album (nervous, desperate, intense). Then, there's always the voice. In the aforementioned "Vater" it returns to the screams of the first album but this doesn't happen in the other tracks except in the masterpiece of the EP "Boat Turns Toward The Port" where piano and electronics meet (as in the first album) and where indeed the voice of S&S launches into space like the missiles in the video that appeared 2 months ago on YouTube.

In short, an EP that is intense, full of pearls that captures a period of transition (without showing real changes, however) for potential, anticipated future outbursts. The only objection that can be made is precisely that it is just an EP. It lasts too short. And it's disappointing to note that in 3 years the girl hasn't composed anything else, something more substantial and homogeneous. And personally, after the last blast of distortion from "Big Hand Nails Down," my thirst for a more complete work by Anja does not decrease. On the contrary, it only increases more and more.