We have another EP from Bronnie, and this time it is Christmas themed. Containing five tracks, the Silent Misery EP was preceded by three single releases, “Silent Misery”, “Ursula’s Lullaby”, and the re-release of 2015’s “Modern Day Christmas”, retitled to “Modern Day Xmas”. This marks Bronnie’s fourth EP to-date, following 2017’s Social Rejex, 2018’s Get A Grip, and 2018’s Erase Me.
Bronnie, full name Bronnie Hughes, is a singer-songwriter from Liverpool. She’s been focusing on her music career for a couple of years and has been gaining fans with the more releases she drops and the more touring she does. Her most popular song is “High School Sucks” and it is also her most-streamed song followed by her Spotify-only cover of Little Mix’s “Shout Out To My Ex” in a Pop Goes Punk cover. This brand new EP certainly coincides well with her upcoming Geeks and Freaks Headline Tour.
This EP contains five tracks, which is the most amount of tracks we’ve received from Bronnie on one EP, even if one is a “Gramophone Mix”. As per usual, each track deserves its own spotlight and so we just had to do a track by track EP review.
Silent Misery
Starting off with a haunting yet Christmassy style, “Silent Misery” defines this EP especially since it is the title track. Bronnie sounds awesome, dare we say the best we’ve heard her yet? Telling us a story with the lyrics where she’s writing a letter to her ex. From her first single, she wanted to bring punk-rock back to the music industry, and that’s exactly what she’s doing, filled with emotion and grit with the story of the song, whilst sounding incredible. It has a rock Christmas vibe that reminds us of a cross between Kids In Glass Houses’ “Secret Santa” and The Darkness’ “Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)”.
A dark and deep music video was released for this track, that will certainly give you chills.
Modern Day Xmas
The second track on the EP is “Modern Day Xmas”, and Bronnie’s fans, named Brondogs, who have been following Bronnie from the very start, will recognise this track as it was her debut solo single which was released back in 2015 under the title “Modern Day Christmas”; however, it has been rerecorded, with a slight change of the title. It’s a jovial track that picks the audience back up from the previous track. It has a new sort of feel to it, yet still containing an ode to the 2015 track. It’s clear that Bronnie loves singing this song.
What’s This?
Who doesn’t know this song? It’s from the classic Christmas film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Many people have covered this song in the past including Flyleaf, yet Bronnie has made it more punk-rock – is that even possible? Her voice suits the track perfectly. She impresses, yet again, with her vocals, fully embracing the song in every way. The production is heavier yet works so well. We will certainly be playing this song over and over again. Not only that, but Bronnie has promised in her “Silent Misery Track By Track” video that a music video is coming for this song – YAS!
Ursula’s Lullaby
Well, this is familiar, “Ursula’s Lullaby” is an acoustic version of the title track “Silent Misery”. Bronnie managed to impress us with her vocals on the original version, yet she’s more vulnerable and stripped back for this track, which makes us really embrace the lyrics. If the original didn’t quite paint the “letter to her ex” picture, this one sure does. Bronnie always nails acoustic tracks, and once again she nails this one. In comparison, though, the original is something you would listen to on repeat, whereas the acoustic version is much more mellow and is perfect to switch up your constant repeats. We do normally prefer her ballads, “Imaginary Friend” still being a total fan-favourite of ours, but this feels as if it was meant for a punk-rock sound, even though it does sound great acoustically.
Silent Misery (Gramophone Mix)
This is the last track on the EP and gives us another new version of the title track. This one has a wind-up feel to it, something you would hear from a trinket box, and really embraces Christmas. The Gramophone Mix spins it up slightly bringing something new to the table with a sprinkle of Christmas magic.
Bronnie Talks About Her EP In “Silent Misery Track By Track” Video
The EP isn’t the only thing Bronnie has dropped in the last week, she also released the below video where she talks about each of the tracks on the Silent Misery EP and what each of the tracks are about and what they mean to her. Check it out below.
Overall, this EP just shows how far Bronnie has come from her first few singles. Her voice is mightily improving with vocal twists and turns that will make you proud to be a Brondog. Even though we have a high love for the song “Imaginary Friend”, we have no choice but to state that Silent Misery EP is Bronnie’s best EP to-date, and certainly our favourite.
Bronnie’s new EP, Silent Misery, is available to download and stream right now. We’ll be playing it over and over again as we patiently await the forthcoming “What’s This?” music video.