What’s good? My name is Eyah Cohle and I am a singer-songwriter based in London.
I have just released my new track “Those Frames” and I am so excited to share this project, as it has been a long time in the making. After releasing my debut single late last year, I still can’t believe my tracks are available for everyone to listen to.
Music has always been in my life from a very young age, from choir to musicals, I have always sung but it wasn’t a path I was going to take. Up until 2019 the plan was to complete my undergrad and get a job in the city.
During University I would go to jam nights every week and freestyle with my people. It was a free space with no judgment where mistakes (a lot of mistakes) could be made. I think this is where I started to understand that the creatively imperfect moments could be perfect and that music could never be right or wrong.
I remember on New Year’s Eve 2019, I dropped a cover on my socials and wasn’t sure how to feel but I thought let’s do it, let’s see what happens. As soon as I dropped it, I knew that this wasn’t going to be just a hobby. I enjoyed the process of making that video too much. This is where the real writing began.
I always say that my music taste knows no bounds but I gravitate to soul and R&B the most. Ultimately my favourite vibe is something smooth that just makes you feel warm inside. Which I hope is reflected in the music I put out. Community is such a big thing for me and I want my music to relate to a wider audience and create this calm energy in others.
“Those Frames” is a very special song to me and one of the first songs I ever wrote. I remember being sat outside one summer just messing around on the guitar and I came up with this hook. “Pave the trail don’t be the dirt“.
These words stuck in my head as I was still trying to figure out who I was going to be as an artist and what my sound meant to me. After making this hook, I actually didn’t touch it again until a year later when I was working on my beat production.
I started making beats during lockdown and I made a particular one that fit the hook and from there I just put pen to paper and wrote. I was reminiscing about my school days and the struggle you can have fitting in to the norm. My parents always encouraged me to stand out and embrace the differences I may have and this is where the line “style yourself to fit the book” came in.
After I wrote the majority of the song, I started layering vocals because I love a harmony. You will find that this track is textured and I often listen to the track just to hear the backing vocals.
When I sing the song, I try and say every line including the backing vocals which is near impossible, a bit like trying to sing everything in “Roxanne” by The Police. My friends know all the ad-libs in Destiny’s Child’s music and the joy I see on their faces when they recite all the lines is something special. I wanted to recreate that challenge!
Although I don’t describe myself as a rapper, I definitely knew that I wanted to incorporate an element of rap. I remember seeing Lauryn Hill live and she had this effortlessness in her flow and I wanted to bring that soft yet powerful tone to the track.
This is why there is a transition from the blues-inspired intro to a momentous melodic rap breaking what could be considered “the norm“, in terms of structure. This fast paced section is possibly my favourite part of this song. It really is where the frustration and resilience comes to play, as it describes being locked in.
There is hunger in the rap verse to break out and be yourself which I hope you will resonate with. I think it is something that is relatable especially in this day and age.
In terms of the journey to the finished product, a lot of steps were taken. I recorded all the vocals at home but the beat behind it was very basic as I had only just started making beats. *In comes NEONE the Wonderer*
NEONE the Wonderer is a producer I have worked with for a couple of years now and when he heard the beat and vocals he completely got the vibe I was going for.
He took the skeleton of a beat that I made and turned it into a polished project. The incorporation of the trumpets quite frankly blew me away and it finally felt complete. We had meetings over Discord where he would show me what he was doing with the track and I learnt a lot from this.
The way I met NEONE was through me sending him a message on socials after hearing him on a radio show and just simply asking if he knew anyone that could point me in the direction of a producer.
I was nervous to reach out but if there is one thing I have learnt in the process of making music is just ask. Ask for help, ask to learn more and ask for an opportunity.
Once the beat and the vocals were down my engineer came and levelled the track up one more step. I actually was told that I had a lot going on in terms of vocals and needed to scale it down. I do have to say my mind ran a bit wild when I was recording.
When I was doubling up vocals I was shocked at how many audio tracks there were. However, we reflected and stripped the vocals back a bit and now the song takes you on the journey I envisaged. Ending with the poignant line, ‘Who am I?’
I hope this song touches you but I also encourage you to explore what it means to you because that’s for you to decide. When I share my music, I don’t want to put a narrative in your head, it is for you to decipher the story.
Listen to “Those Frames” below and stream it everywhere here.
