Sometimes you hear a track that utterly spellbinds you and this happened to me earlier this week with Baeilou and her track ‘Eleanora’. I had to buy the EP immediately and I’m not disappointed.
Baeilou, the alias for Mia Pixley, wields a cello as her main instrument of choice. She mixes in dark gothic tones, classical elements and Southern blues together into a beautiful melting pot. ‘Eleanora’ opens the EP with cello string picking like a double bass but soon gets dramatic with taut spasms of noise and wooden thumps from the case itself. Baeilou’s voice is the vocal equivalent of honey. There’s a golden silky quality to her voice that lets her brood but then in the next track ‘All the Light’, she soothes and coo’s in a beautiful jazzy blues number. The sleepy cuteness soon fades into a dramatic cello-pop piece with ‘Oranges’ which is full of hooks and set pieces – yet outside of the percussion, it’s all cello and voice. It’s very impressive.
Southern roots come to the fore for ‘Morning Manta’ with some beautiful layering of cello to create a swinging soulful piece. It reminds me albeit briefly of Larkin Grimm – but more pointed and structured in the makeup of each song. The closing track, ‘Witching Hour’, is a lovely bewitching mood piece that leans into Baeilou’s gothic side. There is often an underlying subtle creepiness to this EP but here is where it shines most.
As a debut EP, ‘Inside Under’ is perfectly structured, showing off lots of different sides to Baeilou but in a cohesive way. I am an instant fan and cannot wait to see what the future brings.
Recommended track: Eleanora
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