Outcasts – Ezla (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I guess anyone who moves to Nashville, the home of rhinestone infused country music, to build a career in edgy, sultry, underground pop, is obviously someone who sees beyond the veneer of the music industry and knows how to find her musical allies in the less obvious places. And it is an attitude that certainly runs through the music that she makes. Pop it may be but it is pop coming from a very different, very literate, very original place.

Outcasts manages to combine compelling, slow dance grooves, hypnotic electronica and a dark lyricism which not only speaks to the fractured and contested issues surrounding the identity problems of modern society but also echo’s her own place running at a tangent to the mainstream. It is this compelling lyricism coupled with an alternative pop sound, one that seems to emanate from a more intense, thoughtful and intriguing place, that makes Ezla not only something apart from the usual pop fodder, but also the genres best hope for an engaging future.