“You Know Me” is a track that transports you back in time to the 1920s somewhere, makes you feel like you’re living in a different world. The words, which the artist sings over and over, sound almost like a challenge, and at the same time, a question. Do you know me, the song seems to ask. Somehow, it paints a picture of immense loneliness, of loving someone and missing them terribly.
This feeling is carried over remarkably well in “Death of a Friend”, another track off Gin Cooley’s brand new EP, appropriately entitled “Gin”. As the title suggests, this song tells the story of making plans and being happy with someone only to wake up to a terrible new reality where that person is no longer. It is such a primal song in a way, because it appeals to a very raw and basic fear within us all. It speaks directly to the knowledge that you might wake up one day and found someone you love has passed.
If that sounds a little sad, then you’re not wrong. In fact, the entire EP is rather sorrowful, but not overly heavy. Because you know, some songs have this supremely saddening effect where you just can’t listen to any more because it’s bringing you down.
And while Gin also manages to make you sad, she does so skillfully, slinking in with that sensual, cool voice of hers, that is relatable and charming at the same time, and makes it difficult not to listen.
Yet another song that stands out off of the new album is Gin’s “Paramour”, that begins with the tell-tale lyrics “I messed up…” and immediately captures your attention because you want to know how she messed up, what happened that makes her so sad.
“It’s okay, we’re all a little fucked up in the head,” Gin sings and it’s practically impossible not to agree with her. In a way, “Gin” is also a very forgiving album, and I think this lyric shows that perfectly. As I said, it’s a sad EP that reminds you of “all the crazy shit you did” and makes you regret certain things, surely, but at the same time reminds you that everyone makes mistakes.
But perhaps the best part of all (and trust me, the album is a bleeding roller-coaster of raw emotion) is that it gives you an ultimately hopeful feeling, because in a world where such music is still coming out, surely things can’t be so bad.