Izzie Walsh Where Do We Go From Here?
Izzie Walsh’s debut album Where Do We Go From Here? is newly available. Izzie is originally from Northwest England, in Manchester, but she has travelled around the world writing and finding inspiration to write the songs for this collection. A blend of folk styles and modern cadences, the songs consider personal growth and reinvention, autonomy and learning what’s significant at the core.
There’s an internal freedom that’s relealized when you travel as from as far and wide as Alaska to Australia as Izzie did, and a whole lot of self reliance and soul searching is an inevitable part of it. All of that is reflected here. The banjo and strings are a nice touch. The vocal layering and echoing effects are modern and create a complicated listening experience with contemporary dreamscape effect.
The album opens with missing someone and feeling out the imbalance of relationship in “I Need You More” with guitar and banjo and a sense of beckoning. Izzie’s vocals are youthful and doubled to an echoey, surreal effect. On the title track, there is a mid tempo milieu as the question is asked, where do we go from here? It’s felt throughout the song as both metaphorical and literal.
“Set Back” is a more energized number, picking up the pace with self talk about how things are only temporarily difficult, despite the frustration in the moment. “Human Touch” continues the quick, up tempo pace as Izzie sings about those times when you’re not in love, you’re on the road, and it’s reflecting back and looking ahead: “out with the old, in with the new, sometimes I think I said too much, sometimes words are not enough, what you need is a human touch.”
“British Summertime Rain” brings the same feeling of sonic ambience that is the style of this album, with our hearts grown wild in the rain, and you can picture someone spinning in the rain throughout the song’s duration. “Lightning Strikes” continues the natural imagery and uses the idea of lighting strikes as a way to jolt us out of our routines, and it’s celebrates as a way to help us wake up.
Throughout ten songs, Izzie probes the concepts of belonging and leaving things behind, finding self-reliance and spotlighting various emotional challenges that come up when one is traveling. But then again, these same things can occur universally as part of life, whether literally traveling or not. So the songs are relatable to anyone, traveler or not.
In terms of the production style, it would have been a deeper listening experience if there had been more spaces in between the instruments and vocals, and it would be great to hear a mix where the vocals were a bit more prominent, with perhaps the echoing effects used more sparingly.
Overall this is a contemplative and contemporary jangly indie folk offering. Find more details on her website here: https://www.izziewalsh.co.uk
Where Do We Go From Here was recorded at Mwnci Studios in Wales; and produced, mixed and Mastered by Kevin Foy.
Musicians on the album are Izzie Walsh on vocals and acoustic guitar; Simon Gibson on banjo and mandolin; Tom Welsh on bass and electric guitar; Dan Wiebe on drums and percussion; and Henry Rankin on violin and viola.