This month’s Peeled Back is with Eve Buckley, a Leeds based singer-songwriter who recently released her debut single “Big Shot” a couple weeks ago. The city in West Yorkshire has housed a few blog favourites over the years – with Sunflower Thieves and The Howl & The Hum bringing hits recently – and Eve is the latest to join the ranks.
In this feature, we dissect the single and learn about the influences that helped create its anthemic, larger-than-life sound, as well as how this could tie into future releases and plans for new music.
Hello Eve! Your debut single “Big Shot” is out now. What can you tell us about it? “Big Shot” essentially is about dating in your twenties and the kind of adolescent naivety that comes into play when you’re resisting a person that isn’t good for you.
It’s a super energetic track but fleets through a whole dramatic scale of emotions; longing, rage, temptation.
I listened a lot to ‘Frank’ by Amy Winehouse at the time of writing, so it has a kind of empowering essence to it.
With its loaded topic armed with a range of emotions, “Big Shot” embraces the Amy Winehouse influence to great effect. Sonically, it envelops the airwaves with booming instrumentation that takes full advantage of its big band sound. It houses a lot of dramatic moments but knows when to scale things back to allow that chorus to sound even bigger. The verses ease into the mind with their grooves, allowing shades of Lianne La Havas to shine through the mix and really help the song flow nicely.
Eve’s vocals are a real highlight though. They do a great job directing things, sounding powerful and emotive, which really makes it easy to connect with, especially with the many moods that are conveyed in the lyrics.
What made you decide to release it as your first single? It was the first song I wrote that I was really excited about, and it just felt like the perfect introductory song to who I am and the music I want to make.
And it feels like a strong song to progress from in terms of my sound and the direction I want my music to take.
It has a massive sound that really fills the room with its jazz style. Is this the sound that we could expect to hear in future? All of the music I’ve written recently has the same essence and the tracks I’m planning to release definitely have that ‘big’ sound. I think from the creation of “Big Shot” I’ve delved deeper into different influences and experimented a bit more!
Who are your biggest influences? For the music that I write now I’d say my main influences are Lianne La Havas, Jordan Rakei and Yazmin Lacey, but I’m inspired by loads of jazz/soul artists within that realm.
I listened to a lot of different stuff growing up, starting off learning Adele and Florence & The Machine CD’s off by heart during literally every car journey.
And then discovered major inspos like Amy Winehouse, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley in my teens so everything I’ve listened to has shaped my sound and the way I sing and write in some way.
Are you planning to release more music this year? I’ve got a lot coming so keep an eye out!
“Big Shot” is a fantastic song and is possibly one of the boldest debut singles we’ve heard this year. It sounds so well-rounded and assured. Making for one hell of an introduction from Eve Buckley. With news of more music coming soon, it’s an exciting time to discover a new fan favourite this late into the year.
And finally, what’s your favourite fruit? Oranges!
