Amy Shark – Night Thinker EP (Sony)

Amy Shark’s Night Thinker EP was released at the end of April this year, and already sits at number 1 on the Australian iTunes chart. The EP’s second track, Adore, is played everywhere at the moment- but Night Thinker features 5 other tracks perfectly maintaining the moody, grungy vibe that has given Adore it’s success thus far.

Shark’s emergence in to popular culture has resulted in landing a worldwide booking agent team that reflects her impending superstardom- the team representing the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, CHVRCHES, Vance Joy and Boy and Bear- which coincidentally act as good references for her music style.

Night Thinker’s title accurately reflects the feeling of this album – like a collection of late night thoughts with dreamy, echoic sounds that make for very easy listening. With romance littered throughout these songs, the EP progresses through darker, moodier tracks such as Drive You Mad and Adore to the lighter, lulling tones of the final track Deleted.

The EP begins with Drive You Mad, beginning with an attention-grabbing siren-like drone sound, kicking off Shark’s grungy teenage vibe. The chorus features lyrics such as “I’m enough, I’m enough to drive you mad, in your arms”, with enough repetition to make this sound like a plea or even a mantra. Lyrically, this song is Shark’s most desperate on the EP, and creates a strong sense of youth, bringing up images of “running away” and things hiding in her shadows.

Adore is Shark’s most popular song from the EP at the moment, having already surpassed 14 million streams on Spotify and ranking number 2 on triple j’s hottest 100. With its simplistic chords in the beginning and a stripped back singing performance, the impact of the chorus and the introduction of the noticeable percussion make this song hard not to enjoy. Every track on this EP features beautiful, aching lyrics, and Adore is no exception.

Track 3, Weekends, is Shark’s most obvious appeal to the teenage crowd, switching from “vodka lime and soda” and “only feeling the love on weekends”. The track has a slight pick-up in pace through artful guitar plucking, and continuing trend of effective percussion making for very catchy choruses.

Following Weekends is a track featuring Australian hip-hop artist Allday, resulting in an interesting meeting of indie and hip-hop with both artists providing soothing singing performances. Allday’s rap verse provides great lyrical images, including lines such as “I could be your sea-breeze, weather permitting” maintaining Shark’s romanticism in this EP.  Weekends stands out from the rest of the tracks as it challenges Shark’s indie-pop standing… but in a good way. This song feels like a song for cool kids to enjoy, produced by Dann Hume, who has worked with a few cool kids himself (Matt Corby, Daniel Johns and Courtney Barnett).

Blood Brothers opens with a synth-sequence that could easily be in the CHVRCHES repertoire. A cool, psychedelic vibe steps away from the moodier tones of the other tracks. This track is a nice moment of change in the EP, and provides interesting tonal difference prior to the EP’s final track.

Track 6, Deleted, rounds the EP off in a soothing way. The dreamiest of the tracks on this EP, this song is also the most romantic with lyrics such as “so, just keep an eye on me, and don’t forget to watch our deleted scenes”.  Nonetheless, the undertones of angst are still there, just in a sweeter format, ending this EP and quasi-love-story aptly.

Night Thinker is an EP certain to cement Shark’s place in the cross-section of indie-mainstream universe, and will undoubtedly continue to feature on popular charts with her appeal to so many different kinds of music lovers.

Caitlin Harris