Written by Tom Bedding
The Maidstone artist has taken songs from her songwriting journey over the last decade, to put together an EP, that is both assured and extremely relatable. The inspiration of these songs come from travelling experiences, people close to her and finding some much needed headspace from her job as Mental Health Nurse. The outcome of the honest and calming 'A Time Before', is both an indication of her talents as a song-writer and a relatable voice for so many.
The gentle and assured guitar playing introduces us to the EP with a lot of heart on ‘Forget About You’, with Kate offering some relaxed vocals and a slow arena rock melody, over the acoustic aesthetic. It’s a fitting first track, the curtains feel like they are opening, as we witness the artist hit the ground running with her music. The moment of the song title being sang is a highlight, the slight pause…and then ‘forget about you’, it feels as if Kate is singing at that precise moment of realisation of her given thought.
Following on, we have ‘For A While’, acts as the next stage in a way, of the moving on that we heard in the previous song The feeling of wanting to experience peace and calm is felt strongly here, while the music itself feels very accepting of fate and how needing to work on yourself, its a very mature dealing of a difficult time for the artist.
As a listener, you are feeling the grasp of understanding of coping and trying to deal with your hardship. It has to be said, thats an impressive sign of a talented songwriter right there, having the ability to gift the listener such advice and feelings.
The contemplation of self worth and engagement with the wider world is found on ‘Interesting World’, which also includes an entry of subtle percussion to the EP. ‘Too many voices, nobody being heard, I want to be interested, In this interesting world’ is sung by Bowen in the chorus, the feeling of what is there that I can truly get on board is extremely relatable here. T
The instrumentation choices gives this song an extra texture to it too, acting as if we are now being proactive with finding some purpose or something to do with our life. I do with this song was longer though, it could really reach out to capture more aspects of the songs topic and allowing the instruments to fill out even more.
'Don't Wait Too Long', brings together everything that Kate Bowen is all about, a combination of melodic prowess with sounds of purity and grace. Guided by a beautiful piano piece, the singers vocals soar so gently and beautifully, capturing our hearts along the way. This song in particular stands out with its melody writing and touch of class from the musicianship that is showcased here. The meaning of the song is also wonderful, telling us not to wait on doing things and experience the world, again the maturity of the lyrics shines so well on this track.
The final track of ‘A Time Before’ comes across as a reflection of the whole EP, it concludes that acceptance of self worth and progression. Mentioning about how people have put Kate down on being honest and sensitive, it tackles how her own world needs to shift for her to feel herself and safe once more.
The introduction of the gentle drums is a great touch, which gives this piano based song a sense of importance and direction. It concludes ‘A Time Before’ well, an EP which is great showcase of how talented Kate Bowen is and how she is stepping in the right direction with her music.
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