Hull’s own Sean Morrell is back with his new EP, “Intoxicated” – bringing six tracks of his catalogue to life.
Sean now lives in Salford, and says that keeping close to his roots is something that is incredibly important to him, as well as exploring his style of music, as he studied music at the University of Hull and also DJ’d at the infamous Hull nightclub “Spiders” – which is featured on the first track “Discipline”.
You can read the single review of “Discipline” here – it’s the first track on the EP and it opens it up well.
Sean says that tracks “Better Yesterday”, “Ok”, “Undone” and “Outside Looking Away” all belong together and he thought about the order of the tracklist, this alone proves he’s put a lot of thought into the EP and the story it tells.
Let’s start with the second track “Better Yesterday”…
It’s a meaty track, coming in just over five minutes, but it wastes no time getting started with a rocky guitar rift coming straight off the bat, it’s an impressive riff, but it does go on a little too long for me, with the vocals coming in at around 30 seconds, but the vocals do bring a different flavour to it, Sean’s voice is crisp and cuts through the rocky backing track, even with the drumbeat, and it’s all mastered beautifully, the backing vocals add to it really well too.
The lyrics are meaningful and honest, possibly drawing from experience, which I think makes for the best music in my opinion, and just as I settled the into the high-octance tempo, it slowed right down and hooked me, as Sean’s vocals took centre stage with a more acoustic feel and elevated the song to a whole new level, it works incredibly well, and then it goes back to catchy indie-rock-esque riffs and beats, that slowed down bit in the middle MADE the song and took it to a different level, it’s a brilliantly thought out and mastered track.
Moving onto “Ok”, which is the third track of the EP…
It gives a slightly different attitude, more punk-rock, which again wastes no time, and the lyrics feel like they’re telling a story again, I understand why Sean wanted to put the middle tracks together as it does feel like it does connect up together.
It’s a much shorter track, coming in at two minutes and forty-four seconds and whilst the initial attitude is gritty punk rock and kind of like “f*ck you” the whole understanding of the track is in the lyrics, upon listening a few times you connect with it and it completely changed how I saw it, this is one to be listened to a few times to fully understand, but once you do, a brilliant track – musically though, it is impressive from the get-go, there’s no doubt about it.
Next is “Undone”…
This has an eerier feel to it, almost spooky, but then this enchanting acoustic-like guitar hits in and Sean’s vocals shortly follow, piercing through it and the drums are simple but powerful, it’s so different to the tracks on the EP so far.
There is clearly an element of sadness in the lyrics here and it does again feels like it follows on, so I do feel like Sean has achieved his goal of keeping them attached incredibly well, this didn’t need more than a single listen to understand it and generally appreciate it’s raw beauty, the backing track is sublime and you get shivers down your spine, but in a good way.
It does elevate in tempo a little bit in the last third of the song, which I think I would have been disappointed if it hadn’t, but I feel like it is building up to something else here, as it does slow down again and the ending is actually quite abrupt, but not in a bad way, just left me wondering what was coming next…
Which was the penultimate track, “Outside Looking Away”…
This feels like it has settled, in the story the songs seem to be telling, the vocals and lyrics seem very soulful and mindful, very reflective and whilst it still has a rocky, gritty element to it, this is a much softer side to Sean and his music, which I really rate, his vocals have a fantastic range and I think he knows what works with it, admittedly, I would like to hear more like this from Sean, this is my favourite track of the EP for sure, and these powerful lyrics are done amazing justice by his incredible vocals.
The backing track only elevates it further, they’re not overpowering, they’re complimentary and it gives Sean’s vocals the space to experiment and play with range and tempo, all while keeping to a consistent genre, it’s incredibly impressive.
The melodies that Sean in this track really did strike a chord with me.
Now for the finale, “Louder Life”…
It starts with a very quick key hit, which threw me off a bit in all honesty, but then the rest quickly took over, with the slow build I think Sean is VERY good at, then the heaviness hit, this is probably the heaviest track of the EP, but as the title “Louder Life” suggests, it is what it says on the tin.
There are still times whilst it’s still slowed down, but this is just to pull you in more, as it is a real rollercoaster of emotions, range and tempo and you just don’t know what’s coming next, it’s a whole three and a half minutes of guessing, and it keeps it interesting, whilst eventually ending on a long fade guitar twang, it was a softer ending to a heavier track, which I liked.
Overall, it is a very good EP, it is mastered beautifully has a lot of different elements but without it being too busy but also shows off Sean’s songwriting skills and showcases his vocals to an impressive level, an interesting EP and I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of Sean Morrell.
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