When a life is on the line, and the instinctive thirst and desire for success infects the body – there’s a definitive choice. You can soar or you can sink: you can fight or you can free yourself. A lady, who has travelled across the EU to study songwriting in Manchester, is arming herself with material, so that she can have a fruitful jab at long-lived successfulness. Tough lyrics and a beautiful voice – Johanna Alba’s debut EP, Silent Confirmation, stands out, highlighting that she is fully prepared for a scrap to the top.
Consisting of five tracks, Alba’s first song collection to be officially released via Manchester’s Beeline Records, is titled the Silent Confirmation EP. A gentle acoustic guitar staple rings its way through Johanna Alba’s debut extended play (most notably on ‘Runaway Master’ and final track ‘The Break’). The carefully crafted riffs, preformed by the singer/songwriter herself, has allowed her sound to be placed in league with the likes of Lucy Rose. An exception to the staple however is Silent Confirmation‘s second track, ‘Can’t Stand Your Love‘. Bouncy riffs and breathy vocals add up to create a (seemingly) KT Tunstall-inspired showcase of talent. An easy switch up between Rose and Tunstall – two of the more prominent female acoustic singer/songwriters of our time – means serious business. Easily a highlight from the EP, ‘Can’t Stand Your Love’ highlights both Alba’s ability to control havoc and present diversity.
Johanna Alba is special. Having already preformed across stages which have previously hosted the likes of: Lana Del Rey, The Black Lips and The Horrors, phenomenal waves in the shallow end of the music industry are already being made. While the college year may be out, and Johanna Alba has returned to her native land of Germany for the summer, Manchester has time to prepare before the singer returns to air the breathtaking Silent Confirmation in Autumn.
Ell Scott
ELLA LOUISE SCOTT 