As far as first impressions are concerned, Jessie Mazin pretty much knocked her’s out of the park. Debut EP ‘untitled.jpeg’ had its shortcomings, but they were mostly drowned out by the impressive vision the singer-songwriter had for the project— those six tracks were a bold statement of arrival, which is pretty ironic for how slight the package actually was. Just six months later, Mazin is already back for another round of introspection— perhaps the quick turn-around on ‘let the feeling die’ might begin to explain why the EP isn’t sitting quite right with us.

Jessie Mazin’s work lives and dies by its intimacy, and her newest batch of songs may actually be more revealing than ‘untitled.jpeg’ before it: the choice to present ‘dirty water’ as a live recording from her own bedroom is a pretty clear indicator of the approach she’s taking here (even if ‘let the feeling die’ doesn’t necessarily commit to that humble singer-songwriter style, as we’ll discuss). The project centres itself around a question Mazin poses on opener ‘words i shouldn’t say’— “what if I’m only who I am through your eyes?”— and it’s the reeling emotion of lost connection that underpins this melancholic undertaking, and that becomes its greatest strength. The record doesn’t come to much of a conclusion, but its sense of catharsis is nonetheless gratifying to say the least: ‘let the feeling die’ is stronger for its thematic glue, as the wistful push-and-pull of ‘cards on the table’ demonstrates.

This should be a slam dunk release then, especially given that these ideas are being executed by a performer operating well within her wheelhouse. Mazin doesn’t flaunt her vocal prowess here as openly as she did on a song like ‘alive,’ but her breathy tone and strong melodic intuition remain key selling points that’ll have you returning to her work again and again— that stripped-down rendition of ‘dirty water’ is an impressive swing, no doubt, and one that cements the EP as a pleasant listen front-to-back. If ‘let the feeling die’ sees her pushing herself as a singer at all, it’s in the intensity afforded to ‘EVERY THOUGHT I’VE EVER HAD’ and single ‘love, make me a believer,’ both of which build to climaxes that ‘untitled.jpeg’ had no consideration for. As far as performance is concerned, Mazin continues to be an outstanding up-and-comer in her genre.

And yet, despite it all, things just don’t really come together in the end— c’mon, you could see the ‘however’ coming a mile away— and it’s disappointing to see. In fairness, even ‘untitled.jpeg’ had a somewhat tenuous grasp on the magic behind ‘the precipice,’ an issue that reared its ugly head on ‘the man with money in his hand,’ but even then, ’let the feeling die’ isn’t quite able to double-down on Mazin’s successes as a songwriter. If that statement deserves any caveats, it’s ‘feel good,’ which reels you in right from its opening suite of aching guitar chords and lofi drum parts. Of the seven tracks making up this release, this is the one that best resembles those on her previous EP, which may well be why the cut is resonating with us so strongly: it’s a tour-de-force as far as quiet desperation is concerned, and a standout among middling competition.

‘let the feeling die’ had to be intimate for its relatable themes to come through, but it only ends up distancing itself from the listener— right from the off, the project is proudly displaying a glossy exterior that feels at odds with Mazin’s fluttering vocal takes, and there’s a similar conflict between the singer-songwriter’s human touch and the plethora of clichés she’s stumbled her way into here. The claustrophobic crescendo on ‘EVERY THOUGHT I’VE EVER HAD’ and the brooding strings on ‘cognitive dissonance’ (which honestly have the cut sounding like the soundtrack to the next James Bond movie) both feel rather obvious, which is an upsetting observation to have to make of a singer-songwriter penning such rich stories as this. ‘words i shouldn’t say’ is a safe bet opener, by contrast, but the song ends up cutting out before it really feels like it’s gone anywhere. The brevity we appreciated from ‘untitled.jpeg’ winds up working against this more ambitious outing.

We have nothing but positive comments to say of Jessie Mazin as an artist, one who’s sublime vocal talents and growing catalogue of winning tracks has us more than a little intrigued— her new EP isn’t quite the step forward we were hoping for though. The project is certainly a display of potential from the up-and-comer, but it also feels a tad pedestrian when compared to her best work. Cards on the table: committing to a full studio album would probably do her some good.