On her debut EP, Leeds based Tallsaint, not only pieces together a credible collection of singles to mark the beginning of her career, but does so in such fashion that her electro-pop style appears instantly recognisable and completely her own.

Released, July 15th, 2019, Dance To The Radio.

Since the drop of ‘Warm Skin’, Tallsaint, aka, Louisa Osborn, has been on my radar thanks to her inspiring electro-pop and insatiable personality. Her post-Live at Leeds interview revealed an artist who was filled with excitement, but had fully planned every moment of her set carefully. All the way down to her lilac pant suit with white stompers, even deciding that every song on the EP would only be two words long (therefore cutting her debut single I’m A Woman (After All) from the list) to keep her nervousness at bay, Tallsaint has meticulously laid out what she aspires to achieve and has developed her electro-pop sound into something totally unique.

Inspired greatly by 00’s pop and the legend that is her cat PIJ, formally known as Polly Jean Harvey (or Booby at times), Tallsaint masquerades her everyday life and relationships as seismic events, transforming sleeping by her cat into ‘Warm Skin’ a track depicting the warmth you feel when close to or embracing someone you love deeply. Not only does ‘Warm Skin’ scream wholesome energy, the track radiates rapid fire, electro pop, utilising both nostalgic elements of 16-bit drums and futuristic, techno styled beats for a track that radiates nothing but positive vibes.

While these wholesome vibes may not be consistent throughout, Tallsaint’s ability to transform the everyday into something exciting continues throughout the entirety of “Hard Love”, and makes the normality of day to day life and relationships sound like the most interesting thing you’ll have heard in a long time.

Title track ‘Hard Love’ conveys anxiety in one sided relationships, over thinking someone keeping you at bay and not appreciating your attention, while fiercely deep electro cuts in as Tallsaint delivers a monotonic vocal that sounds commanding yet equally frustrated and tired. The emotions that the Leeds artist conveys throughout this EP are done so, so unapologetically, that the anxiety nestled within ‘Hard Love’ emerges as a victorious queen who has curbed her nervousness and instead allowed herself to transform this into stellar pop.

Equally so on ‘Skin Deep’, Tallsaint’s “passive aggressive disco”, Osborn turns the event of clashing personalities trying to at least be civil into a full on, pumping disco/club banger with a pre-chorus break that is its own hype-man, bursting with pounding bass and excellently executed synth blasts, the likes that Shanks & Bigfoot or XTM & DJ Chucky would fall over themselves just to remix.

On “Hard Love”‘s closing number, ‘Comfortable Silence’, this impossibly massive presence remains just as strong. Now swaying between a marching drum beat and occasional synth spikes, Tallsaint becomes calm and collected before a clustering of sound meets to welcome in the true closing moment of her debut EP, exuding deep house beats, that ooze with the energy of the 00’s pop that flows effortlessly throughout this EP’s entirety.
Utilising her increasingly powerful vocals and free spirit nature to transform the guilty pleasure era of 00’s UK pop into a completely, guilt-free 00’s pop EP almost 20 years later, Tallsaint’s precission in excuting high quality electro-pop is almost unfathomable. Having created a live show that makes her debut EP sound even more immense than any studio recording ever will, it’s a truly exciting time for Tallsaint and her fans, and I already can’t wait to hear what comes next.