7/10

After years playing guitar in Northern California hardcore punk and doom metal bands, Billy Stuart now steps into a very different space on this five-song EP, 'Sink With Me'. Acoustic guitar sits at the centre, surrounded by clean electric textures, piano, bass, drums and strings, while the artist takes on lead vocals for the first time.

Across the EP, he writes about loss, guilt, uncertainty, memory and the difficult process of accepting what cannot be changed. The songs are intimate without feeling fragile, and his background in heavier music still seems to inform the emotional weight underneath them.

'Downtrend' opens the EP with a sense of decline already in motion, while 'The Open Door' suggests the possibility of movement beyond it. Instrumental interlude 'Reprieve' then creates a useful pause before 'Swan Dive' and the closing title-track bring the release back towards its darker emotional centre.

Michael Cox’s contributions on drums, bass and strings help widen his acoustic foundation, but the arrangements remain focused enough for the songwriting to stay central. Piano and clean guitar add colour as it plays, giving the songs room to expand without losing their close, personal character.

But the most interesting aspect of 'Sink With Me 'is the contrast between his own musical history and the restraint of the finished EP. There's still intensity here, but it no longer arrives through distortion or sheer volume. Instead, it sits in the pauses, the unresolved thoughts and the willingness to let uncomfortable emotions remain exposed.

As a first solo release, that makes 'Sink With Me' feel genuinely purposeful. Billy Stuart is now learning to use a different set of tools altogether, replacing force with intimacy and allowing vulnerability to carry the weight.

And for a debut collection, that feels like a meaningful place to begin.