Cruel Sister, formally known as Faith Nico, has garnered quite a buzz between the release of her debut single my forever in May of 2021 to now with the release of her EP ‘Girls My Age’.

Opening track chihiro, inspired by the main character in the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, twirls you into the soundscape of Cruel Sister. Nico’s airy vocals entice you in, pulling you under the waves of the track.

The EP’s distinctive sound can only be attributed to Nico herself, as she is the sole producer, citing that only she could make the music sound how she wanted it to. Nico explores a plethora of emotions within this EP; Sister Sister lends itself to the chaos of vulnerability, the track fizzes with anger as it grapples with the sisterhood of women in the wake of patriarchal competition. Whereas the gauzy bedroom power pop track My Forever yearns for a dreamlike future which is reflected in the ethereal sounds that are weaved throughout.

Solaris provides the coda to the EP, rich in texture; it is here that Nico explores the debts of her sound. It is foreboding, fear oozes from the track, possibly this is the messenger of the EP’s mantra, the underlying nihilism that does haunt girls her age. The misty distorted guitar paired with Nico’s celestial vocals warning about a black hole coming to swallow us all closes the EP.

Positioning herself as an outlier in the gig scene with her unique lofi take on shoegaze, Cruel Sister’s girls my age is a boisterous debut.