The debut EP from Vickie Paxton is both beautiful and atmospheric, with her sweet and precise vocals giving her style of folk music a dulcet and honeyed ambience. Citing some of her influences as Laura Veirs, Angus & Julia Stone and Laura Marling, her music boasts the same intentional unadorned acoustic vibe and could hold its own with the heavyweights of the style. The first track, ‘Henry Hay’, is purified acoustic folk music at its best. Nowhere on this EP is there a flashy or flamboyant vocal range displayed, but Paxton relies on repetitive lyrics and simple melodies, and makes it work on this track. What ‘My Time’ lacks in dynamics it makes up for in a memorable melody that will stay with you long after. If sometimes the background beats become just too repetitive, with not enough animation to hold your interest, the slowed down section afterwards will bring back the beautiful simplicity of the whole thing. Paxton possesses a slightly Scottish twang, especially evident in ‘Circles’, and doesn’t go over the top with adding an accent to certain phrases. Many words are so soft they are almost spoken rather than sung, which compliments the folk element to the music perfectly.
Paxton will play the O2 Academy, Glasgow again on March 18th, or hear more of her music at myspace.com/vickiepaxton123.