New EP ‘Good to You’ by Deanna Faye (Review)

Toronto indie-soft-rock singer/songwriter Deanna Faye has released her debut EP ‘Good to You’, an album the artist describes as balancing playfulness with dark contemplative themes. Faye’s new album is available now.

I often wonder if musicians have a predisposition to music because of exposure to it as a child. I consider myself a music outsider to some degree because of this. It’s not that I didn’t have music growing up – that would be horrible – but my family practiced visual art when I was growing up. I grew up to be a designer and a filmmaker. My parents both painted for fun, and I think that made it more accessible to me as an activity as a child, and thus more attainable as a career goal. I can say for sure that music played a significant role in Deanna Faye’s life from a very early age, the artist describes music in her childhood as “a constant”, and that maybe that’s what makes her music so compelling right off the cuff.

After wrestling with and overcoming a major illness, Faye felt motivated to pick up her music career, which she had previously left behind. The artist worked full-time as a content editor during the day, and performed at open-mic nights while she wrote songs for her new EP, ‘Good to You’.

Faye describes her sound as playful at times and dark and contemplative at other times.

The album starts with ‘Reassure’, a soft-rock almost dark-folk-kinda song that fits right in with keeping warm on a cold night, with someone, or by yourself. This is the first single released off the album and it takes some risks that pay off right off the bat. The music on this track almost chases the lyrics in a captivating way.

‘Good to You’ is the next track on the album. This song has particularly interesting instrumentals. The artist brings in some more classical music elements to this track that complement the loungy-ish vocals. I think that’s a clarinet? Lyrically the song makes me think of those times I didn’t get called back by a boy I liked. That all worked out though.

‘Sunday Best’ is a sweet-sounding song that you don’t want to listen to with your mom. That’s all I’m going to say about that song.

I think the last song on the EP is the most “playful” – ‘Baby Velvetine’ is nothing short of a good rock song. The more aggressive tones of the artist’s personality come through clearly in this song and it works well. I would have loved to have heard more of this, although the artist would have had to make more room on the album because I wouldn’t necessarily be interested in losing anything either.

‘Good to You’ by Deanna Faye is available now everywhere you get your music. The album was written and composed by Deanna Faye and produced and mixed by Gavin Whelehan. The drums were recorded at Revolution Recording, in Toronto, Canada.