EZLA - Outcasts (2017)

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Written by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin

Firmly lost in the weird, oft-forgotten electronica underbelly that populated movie soundtracks during the 90s or even the stranger side of the late 80s enters EZLA and her brand new disc, Outcasts.  The singer/songwriter’s alchemical mixture of pop, indie, trance, dub, noise, drone, Top 40 and house music doesn’t sound like anything that’s come barreling onto the scene lately.  You might be able to make some correlation to EZLA’s music and the solo work of Irish wild woman Leslie Rankine, as both Ruby and under her own name.  You may even find that touchstones as varied as Blondie, Tricky and even Bjork apply to the music heard on Outcasts, but the fact remains that this EP is very much its own thing and plays by its own rules. 

The EP seems best relatable for discussion when the tracks are dissected as pairs.  “Outcasts” is a brisk open with dysfunctional beats congealing into a mid-tempo, shuck n’ jive chorus while the themes zero in on the pulse of living forever and a certain degree of urgent profanity that punctuates much of EZLA’s work all across the 5 tracks on display.  Laid out beside track #2 “Skeletons” where its equally soft to loud dynamics and acerbic, dysfunctional verse beats simultaneously shake things down only to shake them up again, later opening up into an arid, sing-a-long pop chorus. The two compositions are very, VERY much alike.  The vivid, poignant beauty and crystalline hypnotics of “Satellites” and “Hangman” explore deeper themes of love and the damage it does to a person, while the percussive backgrounds and gliding chorus synths provide numerous parallel points that ensure these tracks are the perfect companions for one another.  Whereas the opening pair of songs feel like they could break apart at any moment until the listener reaches the chorus destinations, it seems as if the next pair feels as if they are much more ordered, arranged and designed to follow a more tuneful, song-oriented trip down a dark New York City alleyway.  

This leaves the somewhat crazed and psychologically unstable “Psycho Killers” to occupy a space all by itself.  Proudly belting out the EP’s most harrowing set of lyrics, EZLA’s voice goes from a wispy croon to nearly satanic vocal back-masking atop a pounding, urgent beat and caterwauling synths; a proof positive snapshot that the singer operates from a darker frame of mind than anybody peddling pop songs in modern times.  Quite frankly, the extremes covered on Outcasts will be too intense for the casual listener, delegating the EP to record collections that favor honest, frantic electronica that’s not afraid to bombard the audience with curveballs.  Outcasts is an excellent piece of work from front to back cover and it makes clear the point that EZLA is an artist to keep an eye on as she progresses from release to release.