if i ask enough could you love me is the memorable new EP from Brooklyn-based singer and composer Elly Kace. A variety of beautiful orchestral arrangements coexist with Kace’s enveloping vocals, for an uplifting chamber-pop appeal with meaningful contemplation. “If I ask enough could you love me? is a real question I accidentally ask others all day every day,” Kace says. “The music contains my personal explorations of how my divine feminine is stomped out by my own mind – conditioned by a system designed to keep us all in line – a system that is killing children and our planet daily.”
“prelude (i did my best)” opens the EP with moments of spaciousness and orchestral grandiosity alike. “You let me go,” Kace sings alongside sporadic piano glistening and burgeoning strings. Chilly guitars and eerie string adornments carry into a compelling two-minute turn, where multiple vocal layers and pit-pattering percussion culminate gorgeously into an ardent finale. “if i ask” follows with a more gentle unfolding, serving as the EP’s longest effort and enjoyably stretching out its legs as a result — elegantly weaving heart-tugging strings and twinkling keys amidst Kace’s serene vocals.
A deep lyrical introspection shows throughout the five EP tracks, as well. “if i ask” draws from Kace’s experience of seeing a group of teenage girls taking selfies by the lake. “I am particularly enamored with our impulses to capture our own likeness, when we feel our own beauty from within our spines so potently we reach for a way to capture it,” she explains. Elsewhere, the track “enough” fuses fervent vocal layers and lush orchestration; trumpets, ambient strings, jazzy percussion, and guitars converge wonderfully. Kace describes that standout as about “the frequencies of anxiety/enoughness … the inevitable burnout of existence that sometimes offers a window of insight to escape through – to wake up into – an opportunity for liberation.”
“i wish you were different” closes the EP in masterful form. Featuring percussionist Aaron Edgcomb and violinist Darian Donovan Thomas, the sound delights in its gentle marimba, strings, and synths. Perspectives on division and strife resonate around a celebration of everyone’s individual beauty, hoping for peace and unity within the calming instrumentation. Elly Kace crafts an enthralling, insightful appeal throughout this immersive EP.
