Lauren Strange – Shake | EP Review

Lauren Strange returns with a new EP in the form of Shake. Having burst into the ears at the tailend of 2017 with Salt, Lauren has quickly become one of my favourite discoveries and this new EP looks to only cement that. I’ve also realised the names of the two EPs, which leads me to believe that Lauren is a fan of Walkers’ own Salt & Shake crisps. They were a real favourite of mine too. You get the little packet of salt and get all that power to shake that flavour into the bag. Well good.

ANYWAY, Shake kicks off with the title track which immediately gets things underway with it’s chugging guitars and “I’d kill you but it’d be too kind” which is possibly THE most badass line I’ve heard in a while. Once the mood is set the song begins to unbuckle slightly, dropping little notes here and there against the drums before erupting into a thunderous chorus that definitely gets the EP off to the good start.

‘Young, Wild & Innocent’ follows with a bluesy little lick and vocal harmony that adds a touch of Pop to the mix, which would coincide nicely with the vibrant style of the EP’s cover. Lauren packs this track with loads of catchy guitars and harmonies that make it almost impossible to ignore, before closing off with ‘Cross Your Heart’. This acoustic-led ballad details notes of sadness throughout, combining all sorts of fuzzy distortion and pianos into the mix to really ramp up the ambitious nature of the song.

Shake is a superb EP from Lauren Strange who can seemingly do no wrong. It seems to set off with the foundations of Salt and uses them to expand upon it’s own sound to create something that’s very well crafted. It’s great.