‘Love Cycle’, the new EP from Dublin’s Soulé, is the product of several years hard slog. Having been lauded across media as being the new sound of Irish R&B, resulting in festival slots across the country and 5 million streams on Spotify, Soulé is the kind of artist known to leave an impression.
“Whatever happens happens. I’m going with the flow – taking every opportunity as it comes,” she told the Irish Examiner in 2017.
‘Love Cycle’ doesn’t come across sounding like some kind of happy accident – rather, it remains characteristically on brand. Bold, bright and all kinds of fun, Soulé lends a contemporary sound to stories of self love and shared love in a bid to break new ground.
Lead single Love Tonight‘s infectious pre-chorus is anthemic, the accompanying tropical house flourishes solidifying it as a track ready for the charts. Soulé is a woman on a mission when it comes to bringing the funk to the floor.
Done Loving You, further showcases more vulnerability and her ambidexterity when it comes to writing a great pop chorus and Soule delivers some of the best vocal takes of her career to date on One Two Three.
That said, Soulé is well versed in her by-numbers traditional R&B too, given she counts Janet Jackson as one of her biggest influences. Standout track Waterfalls will bring you right back to the glory days of 2004, cargo pants and aggressively using a flip phone. Meanwhile, Don’t Hold Your Breath takes a solid hook and builds a euphoric movement around it – it’s hard not to get swept up in the “four-to-the-floor” feeling it delivers.
‘Love Cycle’ proves Soulé to be a fully-formed artist, secure in her aesthetic and her talent as a musician – that millennial pink wash isn’t just for show. This EP is proof that Soulé is nothing less than a fully fledged popstar, one that Ireland should count itself lucky to call its own.