Following his previous EP titled “Vincent” from 2024, Alnev’s new EP “and everything you left was blue,” uses raw, personal and emotional lyrics to express themes of heartbreak and loneliness. 

The EP starts off with “the Writer,” a catchy and upbeat track about how Alnev isn’t the right person to fall in love with. This was an upbeat start to the EP before being followed by “the guy you got,” a song that continues the raw lyricism but switches to a quieter and less energetic sound that stays pretty consistent for the rest of the record.   

The EP is filled with very specific lyrics that can be captivating and make you want to keep listening, however, mixed in with these emotional and open words, are some that feel a little bit more generic. While the vocals are strong and performed well, highlighting the unfiltered and valuable aspects, with almost the whole record being mostly vocal focused, this can lead to each track blending into the next a bit and sounding very similar. 

However, there are some things that break up repeat sounds, like “ghost,” the fourth track. The build up throughout the song adds something new after the first 3 songs which are a bit more calm while still keeping that intimate feeling that comes with the vocals and lyrics. 

Another song that stood out was “if i’m being honest.” It brings back in a bit more of the upbeat sound that the first track “the Writer” had, while maintaining the very personal lyrics. The last track on the EP, “if i’m being honest (as intended),” is a slower, less-produced and more raw version of the song. These two different sounds could evoke slightly different feelings that bring new perspectives and meanings to it. 

The second to last track “at least we didn’t try (voice memos)” is similarly the less-produced version of “at least we didn’t try.” However, doing this with two tracks seemed a bit unnecessary. “At least we didn’t try (voice memos)” is definitely more raw which is only really noticeable at the end when it doesn’t contain the same build that “at least we didn’t try” did. It might have been better to have only done this with “if i’m being honest,” or to hold off and release another version of the EP later on that contains rawer versions of all the songs while making the difference fairly noticeable. 

While the songs can sound a bit similar, the EP is still worth a listen. The vocals are captivating and are a window to the emotion behind each song. With the close, valuable and open lyrics, it’s likely you’ll find some, if not all, of the songs with something relatable that speaks to you.