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Reliably informed
Isabel Maria talks to the indie pop artist about the release of her new EP, finding comfort in anger and her incredible year so far
Image by Amelia Read
The North East’s music scene is chock full of powerhouses, and one of the most potent right now is indie pop rock starlet Lizzie Esau. Her latest EP Spilling Out The Truth is a prime example of hard work and its payoff, showcasing exactly why she’s had such an astronomical year.
Spilling Out The Truth is aptly named to represent the open, diaristic quality it holds – and no sound or theme can be pigeonholed within it. “This EP has an overarching theme of growing up and understanding your own emotions more, as well as your relationship with the outside world.” Lizzie reveals. “It touches on relationships, the agony, anger and rage associated with being gaslit in She’s A Scorpio, and the frustrations of having a crush and falling in love when you’re young in A Secret and Impossible + Strange.”
Seamless yet endlessly exciting, the project feels like its own little world, hidden behind gates of driving guitars and gorgeously gritty textures and melodies, flitting from theme to theme. “The beginning of the EP is very introspective, however Wait Too Late is far more political and speaks more on my views of a young woman growing and understanding the truths of the world around her. The final track on the EP also places myself in the wider world, thinking about my place in society, discovering I don’t fit in or feel comfortable in new situations meeting new people that I’m convinced are way too ‘cool’ to want to know me, which I feel so many others who have been through uni – where I was when I wrote this – or similar situations have experienced.”
I’ve allowed myself to be even more furious about things that have happened to me, or about the frustrations I have with myself and also with the world
Spilling Out The Truth is Lizzie’s third EP, following on from two others which echo the same sensibilities, despite having been released in younger points of her effervescent career. Following her 2023 offering, Deepest Blue, Lizzie shares what she feels is special about this new body of work, in particular. “This EP is the fiery little sister to my last one. It’s definitely even more soul-baring and at the same time even more energetic and exciting! I think the music has evolved into something that to me feels so coherent and mature but still touching on relatable topics from growing up and understanding changes around me. I think the difference with this EP is that I’ve allowed myself to be even more furious about things that have happened to me, or about the frustrations I have with myself and also with the world. It’s good to feel angry and let it out, I’m discovering.”
And what a gift that listeners get to share in that discovery, too. It’s overwhelmingly clear how much work ethic goes into Lizzie Esau’s journey as a whole. She’s seen a hell of a lot of payoff this year, and it’s both inspiring and simply lovely to hear about it all. “A huge highlight for me this year was definitely our first Glastonbury! We were so lucky to get to play on the BBC Introducing stage as well as on the Strummerville stage, it was such a big moment for us and being able to share that within the band and stay for the whole of Glastonbury felt like the perfect little holiday to really enjoy everything that’s happened. I think it’s rare you ever get to stop for a second and feel a sense of pride because you’re constantly looking towards the next thing, but that was definitely one for us.”
With so much changing throughout Lizzie’s career, it’s fascinating to see her music grow sonically in this EP, while still feeling like it shares the same heart and, as Lizzie explains, the same writing process. “My writing process remains mostly the same throughout everything I do; it starts as a very personal introspective experience of me sat on Logic late into the night messing about until something feels special. If I love it enough it then gets shared with the band and our producer, as well as manager, and we build the songs from there. But it’s nice that all of the tracks within this EP began from little moments I had spinning around in my brain that I needed to get out in some way. And then all the wonderful people I get to work with helped bring them to life.”
One of these tracks in particular is final single She’s A Scorpio, a song written a few years back and kept in a back pocket, just waiting to explode. “We have always had it in the bank of songs we love but need to find the right time for and it was only more recently, when I decided it was just too good to leave on the shelf, that I thought I’d go back and change the verses. Everyone fell in love with it all over again and it became clear that this should be the big final single before the EP is out.” The tune is a huge-sounding amalgamation of all the best bits of Lizzie’s talent, packed into a three and a half minute epic. “I’m so glad it will finally get its time in the spotlight, just in time for Scorpio season, it’s a fiery alternative pop rock track that perfectly sums up the ending of a teenage relationship where I was gaslit (before I knew what that was) and it feels so good to finally be able to spill out the truth about it all.”
