Barton Hartshorn’s latest EP, ‘Everything…’ is a five-track extravaganza of heartfelt songwriting. Opening with a new version of ‘Everything Is Better Than Before’, which appears in the recent film ‘UnCancelled’, we are led into the folk-tinged world of Barton’s songwriting. ‘The King of my Undoing’ adds fierceness to the mix, the artist’s reflections on anxiety arriving at a fiery conclusion, whilst ‘Sister Bird’ is the other side of this introspection, Barton almost feeling at a loss as the music rises around him.
‘Don’t Believe a Word’ is next, a raw dance between man and instrument, feeling stripped back, the narrative unsure whether it's a continuation of internal struggle, or an outside perspective looking in. Finally ‘Belong Here (Dry your Eyes)’, featuring vocalist Nicki Ross, settles the melancholic sentiment, arriving at the optimistic end of the journey.
Barton explains the place of the EP, and its relation to ‘UnCancelled’, “I was sitting in a packed cinema in Valencia, Spain, watching a film premiere and my song began to play over the final scene. No one could see me in the dark but I had a huge smile on my face. It was a special moment. The songs on this EP were written to accompany “Everything is better than before” on its first cinema outing…”
With four solo albums to his name, starting with Headquarter Café, followed by I Died of Boredom & Came Back As Me after a year spent in Australia and then subsequent Not What I Expected To Hope For and Manchester Sun arriving after U.S. and European success, Barton Hartshorn has spent the last decade hailed as an impressive storyteller. With his new EP, the artist turns to a new direction for his future, with good things on the horizon.
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