TRACK REVIEW: Ruth Lyon – Direct Debit To Vogue EP

Image by Tasha Barker

The five songs included on Newcastle songwriter Ruth Lyon’s newest EP of folk/chamber pop cover a lot of ground thematically. They touch on societal anxieties, box ticking expectations, organisations seeking to homogenise individuality and dealing with the scorn of perceived differences or limitations, but core to all of these is a very personal desire to not conform under pressure, to be unique.

Using the fashion world’s representation of women, mirrored within the music business, and ultimately every walk of life, makes a song like Trouble a real standout. It evokes the bare honest lyricism of Fiona Apple at her most ‘difficult’. Lyons won’t be boxed in, labelled or silenced either. Her melodic songs have a tough core and they’re all the better for that.