Tuval stands as one of the most determined and talented young musicians to emerge from the Brighton music scene in the last few years. He brings a hardworking ethic with him, testament to this is the consistency of recorded material that he has released without label help. His previous EP, Obscure Salvation, brought a calmness with it. It demonstrated Tuval’s penchant for words but at the same time, concreted beliefs in his songwriting. Now, as the rear-end of a hard year beckons, Tuval releases an EP once more that summarises the year nicely. Finding the middle ground between sadness, compassion and anger and tying the three emotions nicely together across four tracks.

Tuval’s latest release comes just in time for the harsh winter it seems to personify. As his EPs grow into a formidable collection, his latest finds a new maturity that allows it to balance between the delicacies and the discordant. Opener, ‘Girl Through Sand’ demonstrates this better than ever. It is filled with contrasting sounds of thick phased guitar licks that wrap around you, pulling you closer and gentle isolated vocal patches. It finds the blend between Jeff Buckley and Pond, Tuval’s poetics acting as the indicators in drops in volume and ferocity in his guitar playing. The beauty of: “Everything's right with girl through sand / and at night we kiss goodbye” is met with a hurricane of fuzz. The Jekyll and Hyde personality of ‘Girl Through Sand’ acts as a captivating start to the EP.

‘Overseas’ carries a little more of a pastoral nature in how it sounds and also within the lyrics. The fading of Tuval’s vocals that are slightly set back in the mix cut in and out and carry themselves in a breeze-like motion. The song itself, which at times feels slightly confused, sweeps backwards and forwards, jumping through loops of time signatures and intensity. Not an easy listen at first but one that leads to rewards with perseverance.

The easy-listening returns though with the Levellers folk-punk sounding opening to ‘By The Sea’. Embedded within the sound are folk-like jives, potently put forward by the violin playing and bashful tempo that opens the track. Once again, returning to pastoral and natural settings within the lyrics seem to outline Tuval’s words of choice, not necessarily as the main subject but as the mode of transport for his message. In utilising such nature-driven words, Tuval often finds that rather than these being a crutch and go-to choice, they work in tangent with his music, emphasising imagery and emotion.

The brief gentilities of EP closer, ‘Some Planes Fell’ are sharply shattered with a puncturing slide of guitar which catapults you into the White Denim sounding guitar progressions. The song moves with fluidity through various different doors of genre and dynamic. The swift movements between loud and quiet, intensity and calmness and blues, garage and soul provide various different hooks that keep you interested. Even on the shorter tracks, Tuval proves he gets his message across firmly and with assertiveness.

Overseas builds Tuval’s collection of EPs and stands as the firmest release he has gifted us with thus far. It demonstrates maturity in songwriting and also the active brain of a young man, keen to experiment with instrumentation and songwriting as a whole.
Tom Churchill

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