8/10

Halifax trio EEVAH have already marked themselves as one of the more spellbinding names on the rise right now. And with their latest EP 'I Didn’t See It Coming', the band deliver a shimmering, emotionally-supercharged body of work that fuses vulnerability with unrelenting weight.

Fronted by the magnetic Nicole Hope Smith, with Fay Clayton behind the kit and Richard McNamara of Embrace fame handling both guitar duties and production, EEVAH have found a sound that threads the needle between intimacy and grandeur. There’s a gravity to the material with echoes of torchlit 90s alt-rock balladry and the cinematic glisten of modern dream-pop, but it’s all shot through with something raw and human.

The opener and title-track hits like a gut punch wrapped in velvet. The song’s arrangement unfolds in slow, sweeping arcs, but it’s the lyrical heart-wrench that lingers. Elsewhere on the EP, EEVAH flex their range, from the glistening ache of 'I Still Think Of You', to the taut, pop-forward rush of 'If It Ain’t You', offering up carefully crafted emotional exorcisms dressed in melody and reverb.

What makes 'I Didn’t See It Coming' special is the honesty at its core. EEVAH are making music that digs deep and hits hard, unafraid of drama, unafraid of sentiment. And crucially, it works. Fans of Wolf Alice, London Grammar, and anyone yearning for anthemic pop-rock that remembers to bleed a little will find something to hold on to here.