Debut album from Eilis Frawley

Australian-born and now based in Berlin, Eilis Frawley is a drummer and percussionist with a passion for experimental music. A classically trained musician, she’s played drums for acts such as Anika and Laura Lee & the Jettes, while also driving her own projects with Kara Delik, a Turkish post-punk outfit and Restless, a noisy punk band. Beyond her performance work, she’s the creator of Bang On, a Berlin-based festival dedicated to diversity and supporting the local music scene.

Unveiling her own sonic vision in 2019, she released her debut single “illusions,” which was followed up by singles two and three before her first EP, Never Too Emotional, arrived the next year. With more tracks and a sophomore EP landing later in 2020, she took a hiatus from sharing her solo sound, returning last year with a string of releases in the build up to her brand new debut full-length record, Fall Forward.

Co-produced by Kat Frankie, a longtime admirer of her work, Fall Forward is an ambitious and sophisticated album that blends elements of pop, jazz and krautrock into a genre-breaking listening experience. The record is built on an inventive combination of commanding drums, layered vocals, experimental spoken-word passages and a mix of playful synths and grooving basslines.

Fall Forward serves as a collage of different moments from Eilis’ life, built from fragmented thoughts and observations that she jots down while riding the train, bus, or cycling through the city. These snippets later evolve into complete lyrical ideas, tackling themes such as mental health within the music industry, societal anxieties in the post-pandemic world and the complex nature of human relationships.

Setting up the record with “Be A Lady,” bright instrumental flutters and laid back rhythmic pulse underpins spoken word vocal delivery which reels off definitions of addressing a lady, misogyny, inequality and sexism. Blossoming with stacks of backing voices, colourful arrangement and shuffling drums capped by Eilis’ mellow vocal performance.

“People” opens with the roll of striking drums, met with alternating vocal passages, crafting an immersive soundscape where the lively patter of drums contrasts the stripped-back instrumentation to form a highly original outing. With “Hallucinations,” the uptempo drive of intricate drums and airy instrumental twinkles as Eilis spins a poetic picture via rhythmic lyrical thoughts.

Other highlights on the album include songs like title track “Fall Forward,” where the contrast between vibrant synth swells and forlorn brass lines gives way to the marching hop of bouncy drums, kaleidoscopic arrangement and subtly commanding spoken vocals. Flowing with disorienting instrumental layers and shifting rhythms, it’s a stunning showcase of Eilis Frawley’s fiercely unique sonic output, distilling her songwriting into an engaging jam filters through an experimental lens.

Closing the album with “No Namer,” Eilis glances at the post-pandemic world to craft an engrossing piece of deep, bass-focused groove, slick 8-bit style instrumentation and steady percussion. Led by her expressive spoken word vocal style, she casts a memorable and compelling finale to her fascinating and truly forward-thinking debut album.

Listen to Fall Forward below

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