There is wonderful brevity about the music found on this latest EP from singer-songwriter Eliot Popkin, something that is totally driven by his songwriting process. “I try to write in about 2 hours. Anything more than that and I think I am onto the next idea.” And such a process seems just enough time to get the essence of a song down but prevents the artist from overcomplicating the issue. It’s an approach that pays dividends.
The lead single, Running is a lush and spacious acoustic tune that mixes the simplicity of the musical structure with deep and meaningful lyrics. As the name suggests, the song is about running away from things that you can never really escape from, emotions and memories that you carry with you, feelings that you can never out-pace, not in physical terms anyway.
It comes with an even more understated remix of the song, one which replaces the gentle guitars with even more seductive and delicate piano lines, something which frames the musical message and makes it even more powerful.
Fighter, its sonic traveling companion, is another slice of poetic philosophy as music, another deft and delicate sonic embrace, again followed by the gorgeous, piano-led alternative version.
Eliot knows that it doesn’t pay to overplay your creative hand. He knows that less is more. He understands that space is a vital inclusion in songs, that it allows room for them to percolate and grow, and knowing all of these things is what makes his music so gently majestic, so rich and rewarding…so perfect.
