EP Review: Sug Daniels “Franklin Street”
With a ukulele in her grip, a mic to her lips and her pen to paper, there’s little that Sug Daniels’ couldn’t bring a tear to your eye or a smile to your face over. The Delaware-born singer-songwriter approaches each of her works with heart-melting soul and an intimacy that lingers with you long after the music stops. Her new EP Franklin Street dropped Sept. 3, encompassing these aforementioned themes with achingly emotive grace and four tracks we here at Tongue Tied can’t get enough of.
Daniels welcomes listeners to this EP with a goodbye — introducing hard sought closure to a fading relationship as the beginning of this new chapter. “Space & Time” breezes through intimate observations of the ways in which a necessity to separate has bled through this couple’s interactions, inspiring coolness and occasional cruelty where there isn’t any intent for either. Daniels’ pleas for space and time come wrapped up within her signature bouts of soulful ukulele and rasp, reaching an empathetic hand out to her soon-to-be-ex and reasoning with them that holding on just for the sake of hesitance to let go is no way to live. There is still purity in this space, still mutual love and respect — and she knows that the best way to preserve that is to accept the fact that their relationship has run its course.
The second track, “Kintsugi,” sees Daniels addressing the oppressive systems and people which have made her experience growing up as a Black woman in America so challenging. With lyrics like, ‘You get me drunk on dreams, it seems you’re bark and no bite / I work hard then you take my money and leave me too tired to fight,’ she embraces a powerful sense of honesty, confronting the way this country takes and takes from her all while remaining so massively unconcerned with meaningful change or reparations. The warm shake of her jazz-reminiscent vocals meshes with the consistent current of ukulele to infuse hope into the track — representing the Japanese art of connecting broken pottery by putting gold between the cracks that the song is named after, and culminating in a tone of optimism that manifests a future where a nation healed of bigotry lies.
“Heavy” is the third track on the release — a bittersweet, lovestruck four minutes that’ll send butterflies to your stomach whether you’re in the same position or not. Documenting the daunting apprehension that comes with crushing on a dear friend, Daniels voices her fears and her longingness in equally moving measure, articulating the soulmate-esque ties she feels connecting herself and this companion. Toward the end of the track, the rug is pulled out from under us, hit with the realization that Daniels’ feelings aren’t reciprocated right along with her. The ukulele weakens, the melody slows, and the vocals lose their saturation as the confidence induced by the earlier-pronounced feelings fades — leaving you embroiled in the despair of the worst case scenario when baring your heart to someone.
The final track on the EP, “Back To Love” opens with a rumbling bass that sparks an irresistible enthusiasm to see you into the chorus. You’re then greeted by fast-paced, fuzzy backing vocals, rushing through the pitfalls which led to a previous relationship’s decline and making peace with them in the hopes of finding the sweet spot amidst the blue again. Daniels is willing to own up to her own wrongs, ready and waiting with forgiveness for her former love should they be willing to do the same. It’s echoey and atmospheric between its ukulele lined walls, with 80’s vocal flairs and some rattling percussion that drives the release home with both moving passion and an intense desire for and commitment to love. It’s a magnificent note to leave off on after the bittersweet journey preceding it — an optimistic look back on love after such a tumultuous experience wrestling with it all this time.
Whether wrestling with your own feelings of love and identity, growing up and clinging on, finding your place in the world or a place to safely reside your heart — Sug Daniels is here and prepared to give you one hell of a soundtrack to every high and low. This EP is a perfect kickoff to fall, and a brilliant invitation to stick around and stay tuned as this artist continues to conquer the world through her immense talent and genre-bending sound.
Franklin Street is out now — you can check it out right here. For more on Sug Daniels, be sure to follow her on Instagram @sugdaniels_.
Review by Tori Coker
