Shelby Natasha – ‘It Was Mine’ Review

What does Shelby Natasha sound like?

RnB meets Chinese lo-fi folk-pop.

The review of ‘It Was Mine’ by Shelby Natasha

With her first EP, Shelby Natasha provides a unique blend of Chinese folk, lo-fi beats, a splash of RnB, and ethereal vocals across ‘It Was Mine’. The mixture of cultures is centred on Natasha’s main instrument, the guzheng. This Chinese harp is the backbone of the melodic and textural structures of her music and allows the rest of the ethereal, slightly haunted sound to linger long after listening.

‘Salmon Song’ opens the EP with the guzheng in a pensive mood. The percussion loops are clicks, gurgles, and rustles that remind me of the sound design Matmos creates with everyday objects. It is the most Chinese-leaning of the tracks, letting Shelby’s voice reverberate like a distant siren over intentionally tempo-stilted plucked guzheng strings. What I mean by that is that the guzheng resembles a ticking clock crossed with a rhythm ladder. It stays bassy and low, feeling homey or slightly forboding depending on your mood. ‘Spring’ is a lighter affair, fusing acoustic guitar and brushed percussion into the mix for true duality of cultures. The guzheng takes a backseat to become an embellishment around the main guitar melodies. The song sings about falling in love during the apocalypse, and Shelby’s vocals wisp in and out with some beautiful layering. Birdsong, apparently recorded in a toilet on tour, bookends the gentle track.

‘Pirates’ is a deeply personal song, and it leaves space for audio samples from home movies of Shelby’s childhood. It is a song dedicated to her brother Sean, who passed away after a long battle with addiction. The lo-fi Motown beats gently shuffle as the rising guzheng, distant piano plinks, and vocal harmonies nod towards honouring his memory in an uplifting way. I love how the production is left quite sparse to let the lyrics and audio snippets breathe in the space created for them. Equally delicate, but with added cello is ‘It Was Mine’. This title track features some subtle string-bending beauty for a guzheng solo, and the added cello and double bass fill out the mix perfectly. This leaves ‘The Three Of Us’ to close out the album, with the longest track on the EP. Written about an imbalanced relationship, this starts off closer to an alternative classical pop number that Emmy Rossum could have performed. As the song progresses, the RnB finger clicks and rhythmic sway take hold, and the guzheng seeps in as the lyrics switch from disempowered to decisive.

Gentle, ethereal, and at pains to stay smoother than silk throughout, Shelby Natasha will rank high among the gentlest and quietly confident releases in 2026. It is achingly beautiful throughout. Whilst some may yearn for more of a dynamic expression, rather than the haunted, muted nature of every recorded sound, the numb lo-fi approach becomes oddly hypnotic and cathartic the more you listen. The first time around, I thought it was quite sweet and endearing. Three further listens in, and I really appreciated how much subtlety is hiding in plain sight. ‘It Was Mine’ is deceptively creative beyond the merger of Chinese folk and lo-fi pop. Listen with open ears and hearts.

Recommended track: Spring

---

Support Higher Plain Music

Higher Plain Music is part of the Higher Plain Network – a one-man indie media project. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. In return, you’ll receive additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and free downloads. You can also donate using PayPal. Sharing the website helps too or using the affiliate buy now links on reviews. I receive a few pence per Amazon sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. I’d love to make this a full-time media network and your support can make that happen. Thank you.