//Album Review\\ 'Liminal Space' - The Redroom

Life is ever-changing like the seasons; some people come and go like the wind while others' absence departure can leave you feeling lost and quite alone, but the truth that always rears its comforting head is that it's better to tell a hurtful truth than a painful lie.

Indie Soul 4-piece The Redroom certainly know this feeling well, detailing the experience with their latest Ep ‘Liminal Space’ dropping at the end of this march.

‘Liminal Spaces’ details the experience of both a couple's split and its aftermath from the self-reflection of what has been lost and what could have been to the pivotal moment of acceptance and a sense of freedom from your own mind. With an experience so passionate and at times pivotal, it's only fair it's set to a brilliant funk and soul musical backdrop that intertwines beautifully with rich personal lyricism and passion from the get go.

‘The Fear’, the EP’s first track and band’s first single off the EP kicks things off in style with addictive piano melodies that set the scene and guitar grooves that get you moving in an instant, setting a scene of self-reflection that many have personal experience with, from rumination to distraction in the hopes that it's all just a bad dream when in fact it's a new reality that thrives.

In Contrast, 'Requiem’ keeps the funk influences of The Fear, from warm bass tones to soulful vocals but tonally it's something so much more existential and melancholic to some extent, detailing pain that comes with saying goodbye and the realisation that all good things must come to an end through passionate soulful lyricism that hits hard.

The Midpoint of the album ‘Liminal Space’ sets the listener up as if they’re someone’s inner conscience utilising dreamlike saxophone riffs and soft percussion layered over personal discussion to create a disconnected sensation that both feels uncomfortable but somewhat soothing. This track is beautifully impactful in its simplicity, reminiscent of the out-of-body experience that the in-between of a breakup and a new beginning provides, a liminal space as it says on the metaphorical tin.

Following on from Liminal Space is the band’s most personal song on the EP ‘Making Me A Stranger’, which combines feelings of distance and emotional self-reflection with cool-toned synth lines, rich soulful vocals and warm bass to help ease the tension.

This track also sets out to offer a hopeful perspective that it may feel like the end, but it's really just the beginning of something brilliantly brand new that should be embraced through a soulful and conversational lyricism that is sure to soothe heartache, even just a little.

As with the 5 stages of grief, as a break up signifies a kind of end, 'Nowadays’ is the ep’s move into a type of acceptance, through the soulful vocals of Jessie Lewis-Ward this track flows with certainty and a sense of hope brilliantly formed with nostalgic guitars and powerful saxophone lines that have to feel like the first Sun of summer, after a spring of showers and melancholy. This track is powerful in its delivery and provides inspiring closure in a story that is both familiar to many and to a lucky few who are inexperienced as of yet. Even then, Redroom prove that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel no matter the circumstance.

Liminal Space is a passionate delivery of heartache, catharsis and personal experience that will have you feeling understood and comforted from the get go and is perfect for the spring season where change and new beginnings are in the air.

‘Liminal Spaces’ is out on March 31st 2025.

Click below to stream ‘Making Me A Stranger’ out now from the EP below.