"Giving Up Is Not The Easiest Way Out" by Jaws of Love is a tiny juggernaut

AP Track Review

Giving Up Is Not The Easiest Way Out by Jaws of Love, the solo music project of Local Native's Kelcey Ayer, is a tiny juggernaut of a song, mighty but small in size. Ayer's vocal presentation right on top of the mic feels like an eye closed emotional expression, the kind of moment when you pour out your soul and literally everything in your mind peels off you falling to the floor and you get to the essence of your own truth. The over modulated sound on the vox is also very engaging and creates a bit lip tension. It is a sound / emotional technique that walks on a razor thin tight rope. I thought of Thom Yorke a bit. To me, Ayer's approach works exquisitely well. By compressing his voice into a tiny space (as opposed to a vast big room sound) the aesthetic feels much more intimate, broken and as waves of synths flood over his sparse piano keys, the vox and overall sound turns into, bends into something otherworldly, like memories or pain floating into the ether. 

I will close my eyes and float away as well.

Side notes: Stylistically, composition-ally, at it's core, Giving Up Is Not The Easiest Way Out, to me, with it's folk gospel heart feels like something in a Church or porch, like 70's garden rock. Love.

-
Robb Donker Curtius

Produced by Kelcey Ayer
Engineered by Omar Yakar
Mixed and Mastered by David Gaumé
Recorded at home and at BLVD Studios


THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

From Kelcey (Local Natives) - 
"I wrote Giving Up Is Not The Easiest Way Out after trying to help a friend with some challenging life problems. She was at a point off paralysis, feeling as though there was no place to even begin solving them. I like to think of GUINTEWO as a calming meditation: relax, zoom out, breathe, and just take one step. Problems don't go away, so whenever you can take just one step towards making things better, the hardest part is already over. I self-produced it, recorded it during the holidays last year here in LA, and released it as part of a double A-side single for Record Store Day last April. It's honestly one of my favorite pieces of music I've ever made, so I'm thrilled to finally get it online."