Not Forgotten Girl - Heading East

  by John Clarkson

published: 25 / 3 / 2016

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Review

Not Forgotten Girl is a Scottish indie duo, comprising of Fiona Crawford on lead vocals, keyboards and acoustic guitar and Andy Robertson on backing vocals and also acoustic guitar. While both Crawford and Robertson are from Glasgow, they have turned their attention fifty miles away and to Edinburgh for 'Heading East', their debut EP. "All it took was your face in a photograph/A brief encounter that changed our fate," sings Crawford on the opening line of the title track about a whirlwind romance that has sprung up between her and an Edinburgh resident. Later on, she adds, "I have been down the Royal Mile a hundred times/The same old streets with fresh new eyes," nailing the fact that, even, to someone not in their home city, what is fairly familiar can have a renewed brightness when you are in love. Musically it is sublime, a combination of shimmering keyboards, Robertson's sturdy guitar lines and occasional touches of synthesised strings. Yet for all this, there is an underlying melancholy in Crawford's crystal sharp vocals, the sense that any happiness has been hard won and could be snatched away, and this is confirmed with the second song 'Scars', which, while once again lush and flowing in sound, is an account of depression and mental disintegration. "Have you ever felt like falling down?" sings Crawford. "Have you ever felt like knocking yourself around?" The remaining three songs on the EP are all love songs. The chiming 'Forever' captures the ups and downs of a long distance love affair. "One day things will change/We will live in the same place and everything will be okay," Crawford hopes, but she also poignantly admits, "A phone call is all that we have sometimes/It is the small things that get us by." 'Angel' pushes Andy Robertson's strummed guitar playing and rich backing vocals to the fore. "I need you here and I will fight for us/I will fight for an angel," yearns Crawford, but even here not everything is at it initially seems and there is a blacker undercurrent. "Oh no, another shade of grey/Oh, grief unfolds," she reflects towards the end. 'Back to the Start', which is shaped around an insistent keyboard line, meanwhile tells of a love affair that is starting to fall apart at the seams. "How did it get to this?/From magic to a mess?" Crawford asks, before trying to encourage her lover to start over again. 'Heading East' ultimately finishes on a note of potential hope, but, in its honest recognition of relationships' complexities and uncertainties, it carries an emotional depth and packs a wallop. Beautifully performed and played by Not Forgotten Girl, it is an outstanding debut EP from a most promising act. 'Heading East' is available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heading-East-Not-Forgotten-Girl/dp/B01AVJFT9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1458727857&sr=1-1-mp3-albums-bar-strip-0&keywords=Not+Forgotten+Girl

Track Listing:-

1 Heading East
2 Scars
3 Forever
4 Angel
5 Back to the Start

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/notforgotteng
http://www.notforgottengirl.com/