Review: Richie Ashwin EP (2013)

by Chris McGinty of AccordingToWhim.com

This review is a bit overdue. Here’s what happened. Back in 2013, Nathan and I were running a Kickstarter for a board game. It didn’t succeed. The reason that’s relevant is that Nathan suggested that we start Twitter accounts. The major problem was that it would have probably been better if we’d had the Twitter accounts for at least a couple of years before we planned to promote anything.

I wasn’t in the right place for a Twitter account at the time. I was working insane hours and didn’t have much access to internet except for when I was home and awake. I’d even fallen off of writing the blog with any frequency during that time. But the blog was also supposed to be part of our attempt to make people aware of us and our board game. I was listening to a number of unsigned bands at that time, and started reviewing some of the music I liked the most. An artist named Richie Ashwin replied to one of my Tweets and asked me to review his new EP.

https://soundcloud.com/richie_ashwin/sets/richie-ashwin

I didn’t see his reply until five years later, because I gave up on using Twitter until I had time to really be on it, which was around the beginning of 2019. I was actually a bit miffed with myself. I would have loved to have reviewed his EP. Listening to it now, I would have liked to have added a couple of his songs to my regular listening at the time.

I told myself that when I finally got around to writing the blog with more regularity that I would do a review. My best apology is this. I don’t think that my review would have been much help at the time. I had no followers and the blog views were sporadic, so I’m not sure I would have helped bring attention to the EP. I’m not even sure that my review now will help much, but as I like his music, I’d like to do what I can.

“Glass Heart” is a good track and probably the best track to open the EP with because it sets the right tone for the upcoming experience. It’s got a powerful sense of vulnerability and heartbreak. It’s got a great beat on top of that. I think it’s the strongest chorus on the EP as well. The buildup draws you in and the chorus delivers satisfyingly.

“Hold Your Breath” has a good sound to it. It’s distracting me a little, because it instrumentally reminds me of something, but I can’t think of what. It’s an overall good song that shines most with the vocals.

“Until We Bleed” This track was a little difficult for me at first. While other tracks feel overall good to me, this one has great aspects and other aspects that were less exciting to me, but to be fair it’s probably just my personal taste. I don’t think there is anything overtly bad here. But for each aspect that I like, I really like it. When it first kicks in “we’re bound to linger on” I’m full on behind the track. It’s a strong chorus. The backing vocals are amazing. More about this in a moment.

“Chasing Summer” is the best song of a truly strong EP. The lonely ambiance is palpable. The synth effects, when the song transitions, bring the instrumentation together nicely. The vocals are fantastic on this track. I’m going to talk about a track in a bit that wasn’t on this EP that I like for the same reasons that I like this track so much. There’s a rap breakdown in the middle of “Chasing Summer” that I think brings this song together in a way that the rap breakdown in “Until We Bleed” didn’t quite do. As the song fades after a quick return to the chorus, I had the clear sense this was the best track on the album.

“Dear Ex” is a short rap track. It’s good work that reminds me a little bit of a Gorillaz track because of the way that the track ends. I like this one, but I don’t have much to say since it is short.

I went to Richie Ashwin’s YouTube to see what he had available. There’s a beautiful track there called “Night.”

It’s from and EP called “Midnight” which is also on Soundcloud. I’m going to give it a fair listen, and review it in a few weeks. I’m seriously in the target audience for the song “Night.” Everything about it: the ambiance, the vocals, the short drifting around the two-minute mark. This is probably my favourite of his songs.

I’m going to wrap this up the same way I started, which is to say that I wish I’d seen his reply back in 2013, but I’m glad I noticed it when I came back to Twitter. Richie Ashwin does have a couple of tracks on Spotify as well, so I’ll be adding those to my playlists.

Chris McGinty is a blogger who meant it when he said he wanted to hear some unsigned music. It’s not always good, but occasionally you get a Tweet and you find something you want in your collection.