{"id":3233,"date":"2017-01-23T13:30:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T13:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-george-gadd-better-shape-ep\/"},"modified":"2018-03-22T23:29:56","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T23:29:56","slug":"review-george-gadd-better-shape-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-george-gadd-better-shape-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: George Gadd –\u00a0Better Shape EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The phenomenon of the folk-rock singer-songwriter is hardly a new one, and the contingent only looks to be getting bigger; anywhere where there’s disenfranchisement or an emotional response to be had (so pretty much anything these days), there’ll always be a slew of musicians ready to bleed out over it. And while this is a largely American thing, artists like Frank Turner and Rob Lynch spearheading the UK wave has led to an increase of homegrown troubadours.<\/p>\n

George Gadd<\/b>, though, seems to be veering off in a different direction on his new EP ‘Better Shape’<\/i>. As well as co-opting a sound indebted to jangly indie on tracks like ‘Runaway’<\/i>, it’s a notably small and tight-knit project – songs about uni life and backing vocals from friends of friends are enough to give off that impression.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s an unassuming little EP, but it works so well, simply because there’s so much heart in it. Gadd<\/b> isn’t the greatest vocalist in the world – imagine if John Mayer was from Nottingham and you’re halfway there – but there’s so much personality and emotional resonance that pours out of each of these five tracks, particularly in the gorgeously personal ‘Sycamore’<\/i>.<\/p>\n

And while ‘Better Shape’<\/i> is hardly going to set the world on fire, there’s a suspicion that that’s not the point. Rather, this EP sees Gadd<\/b> laying his soul bare, brittle and poignant with zero pretension. More than that, it’s proof that to write powerful, attention-grabbing music, you don’t need to make a big noise.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

‘Better Shape’<\/em> EP by George Gadd<\/b> is out now on Under The Bridge Records<\/b> (UK) and Safe And Clean Records<\/b> (US)<\/p>\n

George Gadd<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Luke Nuttall (@nuttall_luke<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The phenomenon of the folk-rock singer-songwriter is hardly a new one, and the contingent only looks to be getting bigger; anywhere where there’s disenfranchisement or an emotional response to be had (so pretty much anything these days), there’ll always be a slew of musicians ready to bleed out over it. And while this is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":16061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1727,1726,15029,2343,2342],"class_list":["post-3233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-better-shape-ep","tag-george-gadd","tag-luke-nuttall","tag-safe-and-clean-records","tag-under-the-bridge-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: George Gadd -\u00a0Better Shape EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The phenomenon of the folk-rock singer-songwriter is hardly a new one, and the contingent only looks to be getting bigger; anywhere where there’s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: George Gadd -\u00a0Better Shape EP - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The phenomenon of the folk-rock singer-songwriter is hardly a new one, and the contingent only looks to be getting bigger; 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