Hailien has released ‘Refraction’, a stirring and cathartic EP chronicling the US singer-songwriter’s mental health journey.
Hailien has delivered a transcendent sonic experience in the form of ‘Refraction’, a cathartic ode to one’s mental health journey that marks the US singer-songwriter’s debut EP.
The four-track project brims with glittery pianos and angelic vocals, and kicks off with the ambient reverie that is ‘A Letter To Antarctica’.
The richly produced track feels like something straight out of a Disney movie, with Hailien offering a vocal performance fit for a fairytale.
For all its delicate beauty — which later comes to include chiming cymbals, whirring atmospherics, and gentle keys — ‘A Letter To Antarctica later transforms into something punchier, as thunderous drums and screechy guitars usher in what feels like a soft-rock anthem.
Hailien pairs the track’s poignance, helped along by the sheer power of her voice, with an equally resonant message, as she reflects on the desire for purity and the lust for a world free of corruption and greed.
This storytelling quality remains a throughline across the entire EP, and again comes to a head on lead single ‘Aurora’.
This piano-driven ballad finds Hailien in the midst of a spiritual awakening, as soundtracked by instrumentation that feels just as transformative.
Striking and elegant in equal measure, the piano is clearly a muse for Hailen, who uses it as a backdrop to balance her powerhouse moments with quieter elements.
Later, her heavenly vocals float in the background before a raucous, Phil Collins-like drum sequence launches us into all-out revelry.
Elsewhere, on ‘Bleed the Elixir’, Hailien delivers the EP’s purest love song, with sampled voice recordings and songwriting that flows like a poem.
While it is utterly enthralling all throughout ‘Refraction’, Hailien’s vocal performance is most vulnerable on ‘Bleed the Elixir’.
Punctuated by snappy kick drums, it offers a welcome change of pace with an almost jazz-leaning flair.
The soul-baring track sees Hailien compare a romantic partner to some ethereal, healing elixir, and even includes lines from a poem written by the subject.
Glitchy synth flourishes close-out that track, again bringing us to the celestial, intergalactic soundscapes that Hailien crafts so masterfully.
Hailien’s efforts culminate on ‘Upon My Wings’, which stretches new contours of her sound with a stripped-back, acoustic cut. Here, she replaces piano with rustic guitar melodies, without losing sight of the airiness that defines previous tracks.
With its blissfully sparse production — save for soaring backing harmonies and whispered vocal ad libs — the EP closer stands as a testament to Hailien’s versatility.
What all of it amounts to is an EP that manages to inhabit its own, otherworldly space within the span of just a few short tracks, made all the more impressive for the fact that it’s Hailien’s debut.
Listen to Hailien below, and head here to find her on Instagram.
