It’s always been said that your should “write what you know”, but what about when you find yourself in a state of not knowing? What about when things don’t turn out the way you hoped and expected they would, and you find yourself in an unfamiliar place you never expected to be? Or how about when you find yourself carried beyond your control by various ebbs and flows – of fate, of the whims of those who have your heart, of the confusing swirl of thoughts inside your own head – and are left unsure what the next day will bring, what then? Sometimes when you’re lost the best thing to do is to write what you don’t know; give voice to the uncertainty, take what catharsis you can from venting frustration at the fickleness of life, and just hope that you find solid ground further down the line. With her debut EP Honeymoon Phase, singer/songwriter Emilia Tarrant offers a candid window into her own battle with uncertainty and heartache. At a time when we all feel the need maintain a façade of us at our best and pretend to know what we’re doing, we have here an affecting and assured pop record for which you can’t help but lower your guard.

The title track ‘Honeymoon Phase’ deals with trying to endure the rough patch that follows in the wake of a relationship’s fairy-tale beginning. All the tears shed and the vicious circle of falling out and making up, how it leaves you questioning whether it’s all worth fighting for, or whether you’re just now seeing each other without rose tinted glasses for the first time. Synthpop bop ‘If Love Is a Gun’ wonders how the people we entrust our hearts to, the people we think we know best, can turn around and hurt us, and reflects on how even something as tender and uplifting as love can bring great pain in the wrong hands. Poignant slow burner ‘Here You Are, Again‘ speaks of how the road to recovery with our mental health is far from a straight line, and dark days have a habit of sneaking up on us just when we thought we were making progress, while the blissful autumnal waltz of ‘September’ looks at the shifting season from two different sides; how the summer fading into fall can be cosy for some and bleak for others. “So where will the circles end? And when will it all make sense?” – though the EP offers few answers, there’s an abundance of beauty in how it poses its questions. Emilia’s openhearted approach to songwriting ensures that her debut is one of the most thoughtful and moving pop records of the year, and one of the few certainties I can hold on to is that this is only the beginning for this brilliant rising star.

Fans of Birdy, Billie Marten and Gabrielle Aplin should check out Emilia’s debut EP Honeymoon Phase out now