Sydney-based singer-songwriter Mihka Chee has married her classical training with sophisticated contemporary lyricism to create a raw and compelling record in her latest EP Both.
The five track release traverses a relationship breakdown and her own enlightenment; filled with deep emotional current and cutting lyrics Both is as much an open letter as it is a musical release.
We feel each moment of sorrow and anger as Chee jumps straight to the heart of disappointment, resent and realisation. Backed with simple yet engaging guitar arrangements and hints of strings, the record is carried by her ability to take her audience on a journey.
Traversing five emotional tracks, Mihka Chee lays it all on the table on her hard hitting and honest new EP, Both.
The record is arranged with a clear trajectory and we are introduced to her in the most honest of ways, her clarity of tone and broad sweeping Australian inflection.
Opening with Be Mine, the swift guitar and shuddering drums make for a complex and emotionally gripping first taste. As Chee herself has professed of her writing, “I’ve tried to write cryptically before, but this is what I’ve come up with and this is true to me, I just decided that I’m not going to hide behind anything.”
I Was Better and lets us a move a little deeper. Dark and cathartic, Chee lets go of niceties and pushes her lyricism into a fierce dialogue with her past lover.
Title track Both is a swaying and soft break midway through the five track record, with shimmering vocal effects and lilts introduce us to Chee’s reckoning with her relationships. Wrapping up the record with the bass-heavy track The Reason and emotionally conclusive I’m Leaving, Chee leaves us satisfied in the narrative of her struggle to come to terms with the relationship breakdown.
Mihka Chee is a promising new artist who has succinctly mastered the art of bright and exciting musicianship with hard hitting and honest lyricism. This EP is a joy.
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