BUDDING SINGER-SONGWRITER ISLA MAE ENTRANCES WITH DREAMY NEW SINGLE

SINGLE REVIEW | ISLA MAE – A LETTER TO THE MOON by Martha Munro

She may only have been releasing music for just over a year, but budding indie Cambridge talent Isla Mae is by no means lost in the sea of new aspiring artists. With brand new acoustic pop single ‘A Letter To The Moon‘, released 21st June, Mae has truly established her heavenly, heartfelt sound and irrefutable talent; she’s one to watch and keep watching this year and beyond.

The ballad consists of the harmonic duo of Isla Mae and her acoustic guitar, enhanced throughout by the addition of an echoing, distant production quality. This gives the whole track a sense of dreaminess as well as cohesion, extending the magnetic sound of Mae’s voice without reducing its clarity. The chord pattern strummed repeatedly throughout the song is played gently but with certainty: a perfect backing to match the qualities of the vocals, which are expertly controlled to provide depth, breathiness, smoothness, softness and strength, and often resemble those of Billie Eilish on her more downbeat, lyrical numbers. And, much like in Eilish’s music, Mae utilises her impressive ability to switch effortlessly between these dynamics to display a full tapestry of emotion and skill.

As the track moves from its first verse to chorus, we begin to hear the subtle harmonies entering behind the melody – and these are what glue the whole song together. The harmonies continue to layer and open up the sonic space as we enter the second verse, weaving a beautiful thread of trajectory into the work. We also see how vital they are in the development of the song in the extended second chorus, through which Isla Mae’s ad-lib-esque high notes take centre stage, once again using slight changes in the melody line, not to morph the sound entirely, but to enhance its defining, dream-like features. This – the artist’s ability to subtly add variations that maintain the listener’s interest in an otherwise simple song – is especially notable in Mae’s work as the acoustic pop ballad form is a beautiful yet sometimes repetitive one. It is all too easy, especially in the first steps of a musical career, to let a song such as this seem unoriginal, even boring. But it is abundantly clear that Isla Mae hasn’t allowed her music to travel down this path. Instead, she’s used the tools at her disposal to intricately carve out her own unique sculpture of sound.

One of these tools that Mae seems to have mastered the art of using is her lyricism. Throughout, the themes of anxiety, time, love and loss are communicated in the imaginative yet accessible lyrics such as the motif ‘Funny how a year goes by / when you beg it not to’. Coupled with the undeniably emotional qualities in the instrumentation and production, the lyrics heighten the rawness and authenticity in Isla Mae’s stunningly personal connection with the listener.

As her career moves from TikTok to small free events, even with an appearance at the 2024 Cambridge Club Festival, Isla Mae has been making a name for herself as she’s risen into her talent, sound and corner of the music world. This evolution has been nothing but promising and A Letter To The Moon is clearly addressed to the ever-growing acoustic indie scene; Isla Mae is on her way.