The Fat Angel Sings

Based out of Glasgow, Lizzie Reid is a hot-off-the-presses songwriter, who despite only starting releasing her music earlier this year is already making quite the impression. Back in March, working with producer Oli Barton-Wood, Lizzie finished recording her debut EP, “Cubicle”, just days before the UK-wide lockdown arrived. With the record due out in January, this week Lizzie has shared the latest single from it, “Always Lovely”.

A song about insecurity, Lizzie has suggested Always Lovely is about, “obsessing with the idea of perfection and worth – whether that be about your physical appearance, your personality or social identity”. It’s a deeply personal track, the song’s lyrical content mirrored perfectly in the intimate musical setting, Lizzie’s swooping vocal delivery drawing you close to the speaker, as if she’s whispering her words directly into your ear. Equally impressive as the jaw-dropping vocal, think the poise of Laura Marling and the emotional depth of Black Belt Eagle Scout, is the brilliant guitar-playing, it has a visceral, physical quality, chords hewn straight from her body direct to the tape. If intimacy can often be characterised as a softness, in Lizzie Reid’s music it becomes a strength, an exploration of her experiences and emotions shaped into a personal monument of hope for the world at large, and one that’s very exciting indeed.

She made a marvellous case for her then-forthcoming EP Cubicle earlier this year with the scintillating ‘Been Thinking About You’, and today the full twenty-minute proposal is here. Lizzie Reid explores folk reminiscent of Waxahatchee and Courtney Marie Andrews on her debut seven-track confessional, out now on Seven Four Seven Six Records.

Below, you’ll find each of the songs on this gorgeous EP explained in Lizzie Reid’s own words.

‘Tribute’

I recorded this in one take on my iPhone the day that I wrote it. It was a last-minute decision to make it the first track of the EP and I’m very glad it happened. ‘Tribute’ is a song about letting go of a past relationship. It’s about seeking something new in other people and it not working out. I realised that I had to let go of feeling in control, having expectations and to be okay with the idea of change. The lyric “I don’t regret a word that I said, when I was in your bed” consistently transports me back to those moments of being completely vulnerable with someone. It’s a reminder that although we’ve had to say goodbye, I hold those moments close to me and don’t take for granted the time spent. 

‘Seamless’

‘Seamless’ was written a couple of months after my break-up with my first girlfriend. It was one of the first times I had written lyrics that were particularly on the nose. The process left me feeling a tad uneasy and I wasn’t sure I liked the result. But then I listened to the demo on the train from London to Glasgow. I had tears streaming down my face. That was when I realised we had written something deeply personal to me. Having recorded it in the house and the fact that my cat makes an appearance at the end makes the song feel that little bit more exposed, to me. 

‘Always Lovely’

This song is about insecurity. Feeling like you’re not quite up to it. It’s about obsessing with the idea of perfection and worth – whether that be about your physical appearance, your personality or social identity. This is the oldest song on the EP so I was quite young and very unsure of myself when I wrote it. I’ve come a long way since then but there is always room for more self-discovery and reflecting – especially when you have had nearly a year of lockdown to live through!!!

‘Been Thinking About You’

This was written around the same time as ‘Company Car’ in the summer of 2019. I had a lot of affection for a very good friend of mine and I needed to vent that in some way. He was such a support for me at a time I wasn’t feeling my best. But ultimately I was going through quite a confusing time and felt guilty that I couldn’t support him in the same way he supported me. There is a definite relief in this song compared to the other tracks. That represents a very much needed release for me, at the time of writing it. 

‘Company Car’

2019 was a year of self-discovery for me. I did a lot of thinking and growing. ‘Company Car’ was a way of expressing my frustration about my sexuality. I realised that I wasn’t fully accepting of it. It feels weird speaking about it now as I have come to accept and feel pride in my queerness. I can’t speak for the whole LGBT+ community but I think it’s something a lot of us have had to go through and are still working on. It’s a difficult process to accept something that you’ve grown up to believe isn’t ‘normal’. The lyric “my feet don’t work and it feels they never will – there’s a company car on the way” is about me feeling that I am not capable of functioning as myself or by myself, and not dealing with my/society’s expectations. 

‘Cubicle’ 

I wrote this song in tears the morning after a very emotionally-demanding night out. I wasn’t sure if I was the happiest I had ever been, or if I was completely heartbroken. I don’t know how it’s even possible to confuse the two. I locked myself in a toilet cubicle of an underground jazz bar in Glasgow. I was having a bit of a panic attack and knew I needed to calm down before facing the rest of night. This evening marked the end of something, and the beginning of something else.

“Cubicle” EP is out January 22nd via 7476 Records.