Tina Boonstra Releasing New EP 'City of Doubt'
Featured on BBC Radio 6 and lauded as a Future Name by Radio 1 DJ Jaguar, Tina Boonstra's new EP, City of Doubt will be released on Friday 4 September 2020. Combining her unique lyrical style with punchy bass lines and shimmering guitars the EP is pure alt-pop joy inspired by Regina Spektor and Sam Fender.
Unrestrained and unapologetically earnest, it’s a raw and refreshing experience. A clear progression of Tina’s writing ability without leaving behind the fragility and honesty of earlier releases.
From the quirky synth bass lines in City of Doubt to the vocal breakdown in More Than Your Head and the unabashedly joyful pub-brawl chants of Talk It Over - it’s easy to categorise this work as upbeat indie alt.pop, but there’s a depth woven into the story of this EP, recognisable from Tina’s previous work, inviting the listener into the story of a community of friends wrestling with love, fear and self-doubt.
The EP opens with Out of My Depth, a crushingly honest rage against the universe and in response, track two slows down to a crawl. What is the rush? provides no answers to questions posed in the lament of Out of My Depth, only the offer of company along the way. As the EP progresses the company gathers, from one, to two, to three. It regains pace and a sense of community as it tells the story of friends navigating dark days together.
“I wrote this EP for me and my friends, it’s a little bit of our story reflected back to us in song. We went to school and university and became the educated people the world told us we should be, and yet, not one of us has a clue how to navigate our fears, doubts and desires. But we’re learning together, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
As a songwriter in a missionary family, Tina expected her songs to find their home in the church halls she grew up in. But it wasn’t until she began performing on the London open mic circuit that she cut her teeth as a performer and honed her craft into a treasure trove of songs with a depth and emotional intensity reminiscent of PJ Harvey, Wolf Alice and John Mark McMillan.
Featured on Spotify's New Music Friday and Mellow Pop playlists, BBC Introducing London, Hoxton Radio and Sounds Magazine, her last EP is described as ‘a collection of moving, honest, brave songs that will school its listeners in empathy and introspection.’ (Get In Her Ears)
