Beginning before language and ending inside a defined rhythm section, inWaves turns six tracks into a gradual return of motion, appetite and physical confidence. Selkie builds the debut EP from ambient suspension, then allows melody, pop structure and percussion to become increasingly tangible. Ambient music often treats stillness as a destination; inWaves treats stillness as one stage in a body learning to move again. I came for the voice-led atmosphere and stayed for the way the full running order changes the meaning of that atmosphere.

Because Selkie uses her voice as both singer and production material, the human presence keeps changing shape across the EP. A clear melodic line can dissolve into pitch-shifted harmony, a breath can sit beside a synthesiser tone, and choral layers can expand the apparent size of a small recording setup. Electric guitar behaves with similar flexibility, sometimes carrying a recognisable figure and sometimes extending into the surrounding ambience. The production remains excellent throughout: reverb creates depth while individual details retain their edges, and each new layer arrives with a clear function. Spaciousness here comes from careful placement, with sonic fog serving composition.

The two ends of the sequence reveal how carefully that production has been planned. At five and a half minutes, Dream Wheels gives itself time to develop from waves touching the shore into glimmering electronics, guitar colour and wordless vocals. The opening recording establishes a physical environment before the music gradually leaves it behind. By the final section, the accumulation has reached cosmic scale, yet each stage remains audible inside the build. Lick the Sun answers from the opposite end with a clear rhythmic spine, treated guitar and spectral singing. Percussion brings definition to the closing track while preserving the ambient character established earlier. These bookends turn the EP into one continuous change of state.

Between them, Swimming, Hours and Heartspeak test how much pop structure the sound can absorb. Swimming brings the melodic writing closer to the foreground while keeping the vocal suspended over a misty electronic field. Heartspeak travels further into pure synth ambience, using bell-toned sounds and processed harmonies to soften the border between singer and arrangement. Those two tracks occasionally share so much texture that their separate outlines blur. Hours restores contrast through restless beats, a measured pulse and the broadest demonstration of Selkie’s vocal range. Her movement between control and expansion gives the middle of the EP its dramatic centre. The arrival of Gold changes the material under that voice. Guitar becomes prominent, the electronic surface gains an acoustic grain and the whole track carries a cold northern melancholy. Its inspiration in kintsugi could easily invite decorative symbolism, though Selkie grounds the idea in the repeated phrase “we begin again.” That line works because the arrangement already contains repair as a musical action: separate vocal parts join into harmony, thin guitar figures gather emotional weight and repetition turns fragility into resolve.

Across the songwriting, Selkie favours states, actions and durations over conventional plot. Swimming names continuous movement, Hours measures distance through time, Heartspeak places communication inside the body, Gold turns damage into visible value, and Lick the Sun closes with an impossible act of appetite. Fragmentary lyrics remain coherent because these titles establish a precise emotional vocabulary. They also move gradually from observation toward desire. By the finale, language has become physical, almost hungry, matching the arrival of a stronger rhythmic presence.

The history behind the EP sharpens that relationship between voice and body. These songs developed through unstable health, changing homes, portable studios and live performances across several years. Hours began in 2019 with a long-distance relationship, then gathered a wider meaning as distance became part of ordinary life. Extended development turns recurrence into a compositional method: ideas disappear, return in altered form and acquire new weight through performance. Glasgow, Berlin and Japan enter the music through different working conditions, while the songs preserve a single internal climate.

inWaves is an accomplished debut EP with exceptional production, a distinctive vocal identity and a running order that rewards a complete listen. The dense ambient palette occasionally softens the individuality of the central tracks, although Hours supplies enough rhythmic and vocal contrast to keep the sequence active. Gold carries the deepest emotional impact for me, while Dream Wheels and Lick the Sun give the release its architectural strength. Selkie understands how to make space expressive, and she also understands when space has completed its work. The final rhythm arrives at exactly the right point, closing an EP that begins with breath, water and uncertainty and ends with renewed appetite.

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