CRADLE P. LAVENDER
Sunburn
Milwaukee, WI, United States
CRADLE P. LAVENDER is an on the rise. His first EP, "Sunburn" was thrust out into the world October 7th after spending the Spring of 2019 writing them during his freshman year of high school. Finally recording his creations in Summer of 2021 aged 17, CRADLE P. LAVENDER has seen the birth and growth of "Sunburn". The four track EP introduces listeners to a world that was recorded in one day at Underground Squirrel Studios in Rockford, IL with Micky Rosenquist who produced, mixed, and mastered the EP as well as contributing to the drumming on the song "Thank You. Trenton Houck brings the Guitar and vocal skills to the project. The artist takes influence from the likes of Lucy Dacus, Perfume Genius, Mitski, Julien Baker, Elliot Smith.
"Sunburn" is an EP that is mostly stripped back in production to give listeners a blend of indie folk, lo-fi, midwest emo, and indie rock. The first song on the project is the title track "Sunburn, going straight in for the kill CRADLE P. LAVENDER opens with guitar strums that will have you driving straight into the depths of your own thoughts and feelings. The vocals are calming and welcoming offering listeners a safe space to get lost in. The production is basic, but here basic speaks volumes. Offering listeners the simplicity of the inclusion of nothing more than electric guitar and vocals allow for every emotion of the piece to shine through. The lyrics talk of being bruised and contain a lot of pain. There's so much raw expression in this piece that it's hard to focus on anything but the energy that emits from it.
"Bodyguard" offers a world of guitar plucks that will subsequently continue to capture your heart strings. The vocals on this piece are stunning. They're real and raw making them imperfectly perfect. If you are looking for an artist or a piece of music that will make you feel something then this really is the piece. You can hear every single element of the artist's soul within this song.
"Thank You" continues to retain the emotions of the listener, again through the simplicity of the guitar and vocals BUT this time with drums that are carefully included to lift the production away from purely emotive and into a more fuller track. I think that this piece brings something special to the EP. The audience are given a taster of what the future may look like in terms of growth for CRADLE P. LAVENDER. This piece made a mark on my mind with its lyrics - "Thank you for fluoxitine for tryna make me happy..." is the start of the line that concludes the vocal performance. I felt that deeply as I'm certain many others will too.
"Running Water" strips us back to guitar and vocals in an interesting mix of indie folk and emo rock. "Running Water" effortlessly mixes happier tones of the guitar performance with the most vulnerable cry for help within the lyrics and vocal performance.
There's something extremely relatable about this project. I think that this is an EP and an artist that will cross the genre boundaries to attract listeners. There's something special about the creativity of CRADLE P. LAVENDER making him an artist that I definitely recommend as a "One 2 Watch". With "Sunburn" comes healing.