by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
How do you ask very hard existential questions through forlorn melodic rock music? Sounds like a seemingly easy task, yet it can go wrong at any moment if the artists involved cannot change the lyrical and musical perspectives or the process turns into full-fledged 'navel gazing.' Babehoven songwriter and singer Maya Bon doesn't seem to have such problems, something she and her collaborators clearly show on their latest six song EP, Sunk.
Sometimes it is hard to connect the title of an album or EP to the music enclosed, but that is not a problem here. In these excruciatingly hard times, Bon asks an equally hard question that connects all the songs here - what if we decide to exclude ourselves from everything that makes it so hard? What if we get 'sunk' as a process of self-care rather than as a process of giving up completely? It’s a very hard and obviously painful question through which Bon seems to cruise brilliantly, both musically and lyrically. Through a series of six themes/songs she takes a personal look that is both delicate and intricate.
Opener 'Fugazi' speaks of misogyny in the music world, while 'The Way Things Burn' expresses her despair with the misunderstanding of fires that were quite recently burning on the U.S. West Coast, something Bon experienced directly.
Although on other songs Bon covers another set of seemingly disparate themes like an end of a relationship or how an afternoon in LA looks in her eyes, it is that 'sunk' theme that connects all the song on the EP with both its lyrical outlook and music. Speaking of latter, Bon's exquisite touch of shifting arrangements from completely sparse to almost full blown by including a range of multi-instruments and brass show a full-blown talent that has much more to offer.