What does Tara Nome Doyle sound like?

Intimate, understated, chamber pop where the tiny details make a huge difference.

The review of ‘Ekko’ by Tara Nome Doyle

On the album cover of ‘Ekko’, the third album of Norwegian-Irish artist Tara Nome Doyle, Tara wears seashell headphones. The idea is that she is listening to herself, her insides, her inner sanctum and feelings. After two concept albums, this time around it’s all about what we feel inside.

‘Ekko’ is a beautifully warm earmilk pouring of chamber pop and indie folk. The title track opens the album like an ethereal siren call. Tara’s voice is almost operatic as she uses her voice like a watercolour to paint over the trickling pianos and violin swells of the main melody. It is a short piece that establishes the key components of the album: piano, violin, and voice. These three cornerstone instruments will pave the way for half an hour of intimate songs and delicate feelings.

‘Heaven in Disguise’ is a beautiful track that slowly unveils its quiet power over time. It’s slow, piano organ hybrid keys are syrupy smooth, and the sparse arrangement is comforting. Doyle’s voice is sampled like a soft pulse adding to the ethereal harmony, too. It is a definition of a grower, not a shower, and I’ve come to adore it after a few listens. ‘The Overgrown Path’ is a haunting ditty of circular, pensive piano where Tara starts off with the softest voice before speeding up into a slightly panicked speech for the bridge. We stray close to jazzier tones like Melissa Weikart, but Tara maintains a faerie folk edge to her music that keeps her in the chamber pop world. This, and the following track ‘Lighthouse’, are sensations. ‘Lighthouse’ reminds me a little of Rebekka Karijord’s musical set-up. The minimal piano, drums, and synths let the vocals take centre stage. For that, Tara creates a choir of herself for powerful choruses that become more confident and affirming on each refrain.

‘Bad Days’ sees Tara Nome Doyle swap the piano for the acoustic guitar. Here, we get a tender ballad of finger-picked guitar, gentle effects, soft violins and hushed vocals. Backed by a pacey kick drum, everything else has been recorded quietly and up close to the mic. It lets every vocalisation land delicately, and the dual vocal delivery using different octaves lets Tara’s upper register sound pained and comforting in equal measure. ‘Narcissus’ is a short minute of vocalisation and organ, leading into the ethereal ‘I Used to Fly’. Drenched in mellotron-styled keyboards and with her voice sapped of any bass, the track moves from a hazy dream into something more angry and bitter towards the end. In an album of warmth, this is one of the few moments of dark gravitas, and it’s not where I expected it to be.

‘Anthill’ holds a pensive space. “The queen is dead. Long live the colonies” declares Tara, before a chorus of herself repeats the chant over and over until a skipping beat steps in, the violin whips up, and we enter a Nordic-folk dreamscape. I could listen to this song on repeat and still find it arresting and rousing. ‘Dive In’ is the total opposite. Understated, lightly strummed acoustic guitar, recorded intimately like a diary entry. It is as uplifting as it is secretive, and the album as a whole feels like stumbling across a personal diary. The album closes with the minimalist ‘Hinter den Wolken’. The creaky piano, Tara’s lone voice serving up a lonely maiden’s lament, we drift out of ‘Ekko’ in as much majesty and mystery as we drifted in.

Tara Nome Doyle has created a hidden treasure with ‘Ekko’. Each track has an understated brilliance to it, focusing on the emotions first and foremost. It is an album for quiet reflection, to cut off the outside world and focus within. Every instrument has been recorded to sound like velvet, and Tara’s vocals and poetic lyrics will have you hanging from every word. It’s all about the little details, and this album is full of them. Masterful.

Recommended track:

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