｡✵New Single Review:✵: Niamh Regan “Madonna”
12 February 2024
Her warm, vulnerable EP, ‘In My Boat’, shares with us her journey not only from childhood to adulthood, but from girlhood to womanhood. Its release on March 6th meant it echoed through my room on International Woman’s Day, and left me reflecting – reminiscing – about the joys and challenges of navigating the world as a woman.
London-based Ashlie Skye’s raw reflection of maturing is honest and personal. Warm melodies plucked on a guitar, paired with Ashlie’s soft euphonious voice feels like a personal invitation to listen to a friend share her stories. There is comfort in this album, a safe refuge for the listener. And a safe place for Ashlie herself – it feels a lot like she is reading us letters from her ‘Little Brown Box’.
The EP features her single ‘Laundry’, which has been dancing between my headphones since its release last November. This song explores loving someone so completely, that we lose a little of ourselves in them. So easily done as we navigate our first loves, this undoubtedly resonates with many of us, her raw honesty leaving us in a state of self-reflection.
The heartwarming song that has inspired the name and cover of this EP, ‘In My Boat’, is a perfect tribute to its meaning as a whole. Focusing on the difficulties of maturing, this song guides us to imagine how bliss it would be to return to the safety of childhood, where when things got messy, our thoughtful and loving mothers had placed us in a big inflatable boat, where the mess would be taken care of by her – so illustrates baby Ashlie on the cover of this EP, munching contentedly on mangoes. Now, as adults, it feels overwhelming trying to manage this mess without relying on our mothers or trusty, wipe-clean boats. And the mess is often now more severe than mango spillage. Her dreamy and thought-provoking lyrics feel like a tribute to her nurturing mother, childhood innocence, and teenage troubles. There is beauty in that Ashlie had the courage to share her journey with us.
‘River’, the final song on the EP, is its perfect end. The whelming violins remind us to be at peace with our past, forgive our mistakes, and allow ourselves time to grow. Maturing is hard, and as we navigate ourselves down the river of life, it’s harder when we’re no longer in our inflatable boats.