Euan Blackman EP Rent Free on My Brain Still Holds up Two Years On

Alt Rock Pop and Alt-Folk Meet on A Liverpool Songwriter’s Bedroom-Made 2024 Collection

Two years on, Rent Free On My Brain still works because it refuses to pick a lane. Euan Blackman built the whole EP alone in his Liverpool bedroom studio, writing with the close-up detail of Alt-Folk and then letting Alt Rock Pop guitars carry the weight. You can hear that solitary process in every arrangement.

You can listen to our full playlist which contains the artist’s music, and know more about the artist’s work by scrolling down the page.

The Euan Blackman EP That Came Together Entirely In A Liverpool Bedroom Studio

Blackman wrote, recorded, produced and mixed Rent Free On My Brain himself, entirely in his bedroom studio in Liverpool. That single fact explains most of what the EP sounds like.

Nothing here has been polished into anonymity. The guitars keep their room sound. The vocals sit close and hushed rather than pushed forward. When an arrangement swells, it swells modestly, because one person building a record at home makes different choices than a team chasing radio.

The result reads as Alternative Pop with the edges left on. Melodies stay hummable while the writing does the heavier work, although that balance is harder to strike than it sounds. Plenty of bedroom records mistake lo-fi for character. This one earns its character from the songs themselves.

Four Tracks That Move Between Dream Pop Haze And Plain Folk Songwriting

Four songs, and each one shifts the balance. The Ballad of a Broken Machine opens in dreamier territory, all swirling chorus-heavy guitar. Burn answers with an upbeat melodic pop turn and a bittersweet lyric, catching a last-days-of-summer feeling.

Then Number One Hit Song pulls the folk elements forward. The Last One closes on a folksy love song where a firm drumbeat sits against a deliberately laid-back vocal. That contrast is the whole EP in miniature.

FATEA landed on the only real complaint available in its review: “The main issue with Rent Free On My Brain is that it’s just too short, as this is music you want to bury yourself in.”

IndieMusic.News’s curator team: “What sells this EP is restraint. Blackman lets an arrangement thin out mid-song and trusts a plain vocal line to hold the room, which is a decision most artists this early are too nervous to make.”

For Listeners Who Follow Phoebe Bridgers, Alex G And The 1975

This one is for people who read lyrics. Phoebe Bridgers is the obvious first reference, and not only ours, since FATEA reached for her too when describing the closing track. The shared instinct is landing a heavy line in an ordinary speaking register instead of pushing it.

Alex G is the second. His records treat a modest home-scale arrangement as a finished sound rather than a demo, which is exactly the logic behind a bedroom-made EP that never apologises for being one.

Then there is The 1975, mainly for the way they run confessional writing through unapologetically pop arrangements. The fuller Alt Rock Pop passages here work along similar lines.

Those are stylistic reference points, not claims of association. All three reward the listener who cares what a song is actually saying.

Coverage has followed steadily. Atwood Magazine premiered his single I’m Not Scared, Jammerzine covered this EP, and independent supporters Cage Riot and AFX Radio have both backed his work.

Blackman described the process himself: “Creating ‘rent free on my brain’ was a deeply personal process, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see how it has connected with so many people since its release. I aimed to craft something authentic that explores the nuances of modern life through a blend of genres I love.”