Belles - Belles
East Music Row Records
****
Country music loves to crow about how honest and true-to-life its songs are. Spoiler alert: A lot of that is bullshit. Belles (singer-songwriter Kelli Belles) however, couldn’t be more real. This six-track EP feels like a personal gift: a package of intricate, mesmerising songs, so intimate and private they sound like secrets. Some songwriters are wary of tying the content of their work too closely to their real lives. Not Belles, who makes a beeline for the most achingly vivid relationship memories, good and bad, on this low-key stunner. It’s her openhearted dissertation on giving herself grace and room to grow by staring down her demons and admonishing her biggest fears. That resolve of just moving forward and refusing to let the past define or hold you down is the core message here. It works. It’s easy to understand. Not so easy to accomplish.
BELLES offers a suite of unhurried and intimate songs that draw the listener in with their candour. This from a relatively new artist already near the top of her game. With its adolescent-like female vocals, the delicate Porcelain has a degree of poignancy and vulnerability. It truly is a beautiful song, as Belles opens her very heart and soul in this emotional track. She wallows in rejection and dejection, resigned to loneliness in Broken In Boots. Though the lyrics embody crushing desperation, it’s a song of defiance and optimism, of not being defined by the heartbreak that you’ve experienced, occasionally tempered by tantalising hints of relief. Smoky, laid-back, with notes of hopefulness. Happy Hour, is the exact opposite of that. Stuck in a bar with a disinterested partner, nearing the end of a relationship, with nothing left to say, as the time endlessly drags. The gentle guitar and plodding drums echo the pathos that makes this heartbreakingly sad song even sadder.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, far from it. Crazy As Me, a witty, and utterly compelling duet with Blake Wood, breathes in the air of hope and positivity as it barrels along with a spring in its step and the broadest of smiles on its face. This has all the magic of those old Conway and Loretta duets, with the optimistic message that however bad things get, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It really is a fun number that is bound to have you smiling as you listen. She closes with Ring On The Table, a devastating tale of a relationship unfolding, from the heady days of moving into a new home, through the cracks that begin to appear, then the renewed hope of a baby, brought slowly crashing down by recklessness and addiction. The way she unfurls this song with her trademark passion for excellence recalls the classic country singers of the genre’s rich heritage. Be on the lookout for more from this impressive singer-songwriter.
September 2025