This EP has been sitting patiently on my review list, waiting for its moment. Released on May 29, it has now been out for over a month and I should have given it my attention sooner. I haven’t quite been myself over the last few weeks, but eventually I found a quiet hour away from football, politics and the rather stuffy weather to give it the attention it deserved. I eventually found a quiet hour to immerse myself in it. As it turned out sometimes reflective music arrives at exactly the right moment.
Allow me to share the press release before I take you through it track by track:
“Liya Shapiro is a London-based singer-songwriter exploring the depths of love, identity, mental health and emotional fragility through her music. Having studied the history of art, fashion, and anthropology, each field tangibly shapes her artistry: art informs the way she hears and interprets sound; fashion fuels the visual identity she directs; and anthropology helps her explore the human condition. Through layered storytelling and intentional creative direction, she builds a world that is deeply personal and reflective of her journey to self-worth.
Her debut EP “Another Woman” expands that vision into something more cohesive: a body of work built around a single, years-long experience of unrequited love, written across different phases and later shaped into what she describes as “something that functions a little like an emotional diary tracing the whole story from beginning to end.” Though the timeline of the songs themselves is non-linear, the record moves with its own internal logic, held together by what she calls “the same unresolved longing running underneath all of them like a current.” It is dark, cinematic and intense, sitting with its own pain rather than rushing towards resolution, yet still carrying a sense of movement, however slow and hard-won.
The name of the EP holds a deliberate duality that anchors the entire project. On one level, “Another Woman” refers to the person at the centre of the title track — “the woman he ended up with, the one that cracked open a grief I thought I’d already finished with.” On another, it reflects something more personal: “it’s named after who I became on the other side of it.” That tension between past and present underpins the entire record, turning it into what she describes as “a ritual of letting go… I’m genuinely not the same person who wrote these songs anymore.”
My Review:
The EP has 5 songs and lasts just over 15 minutes.
“Introduction” is a brief opener (37 secs) with the strings setting the mood.
“Another Woman” opens with “I don’t love him any more” – leading the tone and introducing me to the world of this EP. The song is dramatically dark, it is folk with angst and pain. Here is a scene randomly appearing as I listen to this – Anne Boleyn walks down the corridor and sees her rival Jane Seymour wearing a chain that her husband bought her, she sees red and rips it from the other woman’s neck – venom, but also fear and torment bubbling within. This track infuses these emotions. “Do I have to admit that it hurts to know?” sings Liya – he track explores loss in a style that infuses classical traditions with jazz and folk
“Night Thoughts” is gentler, a song for after the witching hour when obsessions creep back into our thoughts and we find ourselves unable to switch off from the memory of the one we loved. Liya Shapiro is an emotive vocalist, and these songs create an intimate storytelling atmosphere. This is music that almost demands a late-night drink and a candle burning nearby.
“Hold Me Tight” was my personal favourite on the EP. It was the most upbeat vocally, the harmonies were neatly delivered and the stripped back instrumentation and the slightly funky beat worked well. There was a bit of a dance feel and it is the most radio friendly track on the EP.
He’s Earthquakes” is instrumentally the saddest piece on the EP, carrying winter in its hands and the unmistakable feeling that the sand is slipping steadily through the hourglass. Liya’s vocal remains delicate and quietly beautiful, while the arrangement occasionally swells into something heavier before retreating again. It provides a poignant, melancholy close to the record.
Liya Shapiro has produced a debut EP that values emotion over spectacle. Another Woman is thoughtful, intimate and often beautifully understated, rewarding listeners willing to immerse themselves in its world rather than simply play it in the background. Fifteen minutes may not seem long, but there is an emotional weight here that lingers well after the final notes have faded. This is an impressive first chapter, and I look forward to hearing where Liya’s musical journey leads next.
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You can stream music from Liya Shapiro here
By Lorraine Foley
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