Review: The Wistful Minimalist Musings In Lucy Gooch’s ‘Rushing’ EP

Lucy Gooch | Rushing (EP) | Past Inside The Present

Release Date: 8 January, 2020

Soaked in unearthly cloaks of silken reverb and sparkling with velveteen vocals; UK, Bristol-based musician, vocalist and producer Lucy Gooch has shaped scintillating ocean-waves in her debut appearance in the electronic world with her EP ‘Rushing’. Lush with glittering ambience both beguiling and deeply emotive, the artist creates echoic, airy worlds within her flourishing atmospheric sounds – cradling moonlit pop in the hearts of delicate phantoms.

Blossoming meadows of lavish soundscapes shimmer with a distinct, intimate minimalism; harmonious melodies sing in tangent with the reflective spaces in between. Gooch’s hushed, introspective lyrics glide in tandem with her intricately braided auras, a breakthrough release for the newcomer who instantly stands out with the beautiful realms she sculpts.

Velveteen harmonies open the titular track ‘Rushing‘; Gooch’s voice shimmering with hues of intimacy – layered intricately as a celestial choir; a poetic, tender soundscape blooming from the roots of her vocals alone. Gossamer ambience embraces an icy, cold light; the chill of ethereal ocean waves nursing a pale, quiet shore – synthesisers swelling into an emotive, introspective calm. The loving minimalism of the dreamlike, electronic sustain cradles Gooch’s halcyon vocals, ambient walls of sound gleaming with a gentle melancholia.

‘Stalagmites & Helictites‘ is engulfed in a reverb-drenched frost, otherworldly vocals ricocheting off the raw chill of a natural underworld; an aura of isolation sparkling within the airy, atmospheric realm – as if recorded within a cave, soaked in an underground dusk. Gooch’s voice blends effortlessly within the enchanting sphere of sound, soaked in lyrical harmonies – a stirring sentimentality glimmers as gems, embedded within the touching electronic textures – hypnotic and tranquil.

Glowing with phantom hearts in a ghostly ambient realm, ‘Sun‘ greets listeners with a low, ominous bass; a faint, static texture drizzling as ghostly rain amongst the haunting, sunken synth. A gradual shadowy crescendo flourishes amongst Gooch’s spectral vocals; her hushed, wistful musings flickering within the rise and fall of heavy-hearted electronics. The soulful feel of the vocals gleam as an antarctic star; bright and alluring – doused in the cold-rays of an overcast dawn. The beautifully layered textures sculpt mountains of electronic bliss, shimmering with a bittersweet tone – heavenly in the shivering ambient fingers crawling up one’s spine.

Rating: 8 / 10

Feature Image: Lucy Gooch via Facebook