AA WILLIAMS is a British singer/songwriter who recently put out her debut (Self-titled) EP through Holly Roar Records. The funny thing (or great thing) about AA WILLIAMS is that this EP is the first blip on the map for her. With no prior releases under that name and a careful, dark, and non-flashy aesthetic, all is carefully designed to make you focus on the EP; it makes you judge the artist purely on its 4 tracks. The sound, mix, and mastering are absolutely impeccable to me, which has made this EP go straight to the top of the “I gotta hear this shit on vinyl ASAP” list.

Although the label is better known for harder and heavier stuff, upon listening to “Control”, the first track of the EP, one can tell what spiked the interest and the opportunity. Piano, soft voices, and slow rhythms are joined by distorted yet not overpowering guitars towards mid-track, reaching a crescendo so well woven that you only notice it’s intensity once the crescendo itself ends.

“Cold” is yet another amazing track. It’s soft, it’s slow, it’s heartwrenching, and bellow all that we can hear the bones of a sound that could be really hard, extreme and eye-opening. The vocals and music weaver entire landscapes of sound and imagination. I’d give an eye-tooth to see a well-performed post-black metal (or maybe ambient black metal) version of this track, just to see if it would translate into extreme metal as well as I think it would. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the original song different; on the contrary, I like it enough to already dream of alternate renditions of it.

She is definitely an artist to keep an eye out for in 2019. Follow her on Spotify and/or watch the videos for the singles “Cold” and “Control” here!