Holly Lapsley Fletcher (Låpsley) has come a very long way since we first featured her Monday EP over one year ago. At the time, she was 17-years-old, independent, and an under-the-radar singer-songwriter bursting with potential. Then, something very fortuitous happened: the vaunted BBC Radio 1 caught wind of her, and she absolutely took off as a result. Her most recent single to date, "Falling Short", has racked up half a million plays on SoundCloud, but pretty soon, those will be minuscule numbers for Låpsley, because in October, she singed a record deal with the colossal XL Recordings. It doesn't take a genius, therefore, to hypothesize that amount of success Låpsley is on the verge of achieving, and today, she's fulfilling her potential with her phenomenal new Understudy EP. Låpsley's smooth and soft execution of electronic-pop is one of the most tasteful and elegant we're currently hearing, and this fact becomes obvious while listening to the first new song on the EP, "Brownlow". The track is fairly minimal as it makes use of light synths, a mellow beat, and some occasional electronic; however, Låpsley's angelic vocals really steal the show, as they tend to do in each of her efforts. The next new song, "8896", still conveys Låpsley's distinctive sound, but the production branches out with swelling synths, a bubbling beat, gentle piano keys, and subtle vocal chops. Finally, the EP is concluded with "Dancing", a very unique offering that expands and contracts spontaneously and only adds to the pleasurably dynamic tone of the entire work. With Understudy, Låpsley has kicked off 2015 in the best possible way for herself and the label she's a part of, so be sure to grab your own copy of the EP on iTunes, and spread the tunes widely around so more people can experience the astounding musical efforts.
Lapsley