A Heartfelt Debut for Emily Poulin

By: Laura Stanley –

Remember when you were in high school or university and you used to write music in your bedroom or dorm room? It was often emotional, filled with personal stories and ideas that hadn’t quite fully developed. That’s what Emily Poulin’s Close To Home EP sounds like. An eagerness attached to it that’s undeniable, in the description on her Bandcamp page, Poulin says that the EP is, “A collection of songs from the heart” – something that’s obvious.

Where Poulin’s vocals are not the strongest in sections of songs, the low notes in “Intro/You” for example, in other songs they prove to be much more powerful – “Who Woulda Thunk It?” With the inclusion of a harmonica, the final song from the EP “Close To Home,” really shows off Poulin’s influences, I can’t help but think City & Colour is a big one, in the folk genre and is the most whole sounding of the six songs.

Every great musician started somewhere with some form of recording, good or bad. The album isn’t the most polished of debut recordings but it’s her start and hopefully not the end.