Singer-songwriter Maricelle Wong shares with us her thoughts on fellow singer-songwriters…

Tall Mountains is the stage name of Sydney Yeo, a young Singaporean singer-songwriter who is currently studying music engineering in New York. The production is done well and she really seems to balance her songs well, writing songs that are entertaining and unpredictable.

Starting with a soft voice that tenderly sings the lyrics which decorate the chords of a guitar being plucked, the drums beat on like a running train, till the music stopd suddenly for her to sing “just around the bend” and continue cooing a comforting ‘ooooh’. “Who told you that you were extraordinary?”

Her voice is a little like Laura Marling, but the way she sings is more reminiscent of the folk genre.

Although her second song “I do” seems to have the same guitar strumming pattern as her first song, it’s chirpier in terms of vocals. The third song on her album “Monster” has a nice violin and guitar instrumental pause which echoes well in this spacey song that’s slower in tempo. Fourthly, “long distance” is a quiet song about long distance relationships, and her stylistic crescendos are most prominent here. Another character of her songs is the use of the quick phrases she likes to repeat which breaks the tempo of the song and is a nice contrast and build-up to the end of the song. Lastly, her EP finishes with “Better”, which has a bright sound to it, and she’s got a catchy chorus, nice ending to the album. (MW)

Listen/download/buy the Tall Mountains EP. Like… NOW!