To all of the youthful moments we once had in our lives, we live once again in despair to re-live such moments. As kids, youngsters, or youthful adults; we don’t lose our grip on having fun and enjoying time and never letting it slip.
Amongst the battles with time, comes a moment where you wish for moments to never end, and you never feel like resting from having fun, and it’s not an option for your youthful joyful soul to “Slow Down”.
Ned Holland -a solo artist from the south of England, Salisbury- is simply explaining our battles with our current slowly-paced lives compared to our youthful past in his EP “Slow Down“.
The EP kicks off with soft guitar chords mixed with light drum kicks, and all of a sudden I felt like “Whoa! Is this Tom Odell’s step-brother singing?” but no, it turned out to be that I was amused by Ned’s awesome catching vocals. Apparently, Ned’s influences were exposed in his style, as Ned stated “I take huge inspirations from the Beatles, Coldplay’s earlier music, Sam Fender, Tom Odell, and bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen.”
Synths in the album are perfectly placed and give a warm heartly touch to the record. It delivers you the emotions you have been burying and concealing for years.
The vocals are astonishing, but on specific tracks, it had a few backgrounds echoes more than other tracks and If it was a mastering technique, I believe it could have been done better; I guess that goes back to the fact that Ned wasn’t recording at the same place “The EP was recorded at my home in Salisbury and my university house in Falmouth, Cornwall. It was mastered by HP Music. I mixed and produced the whole EP. I recorded the piano for Away with my friend Tom Brans in AMATA at Falmouth University, and I had Willow Murray, singing the harmonies on Away too. I also had Lewis Jackson -a, a good friend- help with the production on Slow Down.” Ned stated.
The production and mastering could’ve levitated this record much more in the listeners’ view, as some tracks weren’t produced with high quality, though they are fascinating on the musical level.
My favorite track on the record is definitely “Slow Down” as it has meanings and emotions that I’m personally experiencing right now and it has a special place in my heart.
And if Liverpool has Jamie Webster, Salsbury Is competing with Ned Holland.
Listen to the EP and tell us what is your favorite track!