Surprise Baby’s debut EP ‘Too Right,’ carves out a distinct place of their own by blending folk and indie-pop across a five-track collaboration. Efforts from musician and songwriter Sarsten Noice and producer Claire Morison reveal the album’s dual nature, skilfully balancing introspection with outward catharsis, creating a catalogue of distilled lessons and weighted narratives against an effervescent backdrop.
The EP unfolds kaleidoscopically, showcasing an iridescent palette with dreamlike and ethereal soundscapes melded with dance nuances and angular guitar lines, exploring themes of self-love, growth, transformation, and spirituality.
Tracks like ‘Poison the Well’ respond to themes of acceptance and control, capturing the struggle to reconcile one’s actions.
‘Motorcycle’ delves into escapism from unpleasant realities.
‘Good Use’ illustrates oneself buckling under external pressures and acknowledging the inevitability of letting others down, while ‘Ketamine’ is centred around friendship, encapsulating the struggle of reaching out and grappling with a sense of helplessness.
‘Bless the Loser’ stands out as an enchanting anthem of self-medication and surrender. Plunging listeners into a maelstrom of rolling drums and robust bass, the song exudes a possessed quality, descending into a sultry underworld where inhibitions are shed, and the facade of having ‘your shit’ together is abandoned. The song seethes from the inside out, laying bare the singer’s feelings of being out of place and out of control for the listener. With dynamic changes, the track is just as enthralling in its descent as it is in its ascent. It provides respite from the more synthetic sounds, briefly reverting to simple fingerpicking against twangy steel strings that grab and gnaw at your ears, allowing an imperfect and grainy sound into the narrative. Unsurprisingly, the foundation of the track was recorded live to tape, capturing the feeling of shedding skin, breaking out of a shell, and feeling young and restless.
Too Right reflects on the lessons learned during youth and distils them into a visceral and scintillating album that both broods and shines in its output. Bonded by pop sounds and the granular, textured strumming of acoustic guitars—shortly overthrown by the electric —the EP✍️ exists in a liminal space where duality binds their agreement. Too Right is heartfelt and experimental, possessing a celestial quality while remaining fundamentally human.
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