Sun Child Releases Debut EP Everything (Review)

Sun Child, the latest iteration of Brooke Garwood’s musical project, released a debut EP, Everything, on Friday. The 6-song collection alternates between stirring acoustic guitar tracks and piano ballads and serves as an intimate exploration of love, relationship dynamics, and personal growth.

Two songs, “Favorite Kind of High” and “Sheep,” were released earlier this year as singles. The former is the opening track of the EP, and it’s driven by quick, jaunty, almost latin-influenced guitar. Garwood’s vocals are smooth and honeyed but not delicate – her voice holds an air of self-assuredness.

“Boots” is a slower track, stripped back to just piano and vocals. Garwood examines the turmoil of a relationship through melancholic crooning and gently rendered keys.

The following song, “Backseat,” picks up the tempo, with a rambling, Americana guitar and breezy vocals. It seems to center around the bright, all-consuming, disorienting early days in a relationship. Garwood recounts that her “Friends are asking where the hell I’ve been.”

“Sheep,” the other aforementioned single, describes the racing, anxious thoughts prevent sleep. “Nothing else is on my brain / But your name,” Garwood sings against more acoustic guitar. 

One of the most poignant tracks on the EP, “Dizzy” pairs tender piano with sizzling, building percussion and a gradual, stinging guitar. It’s the first track to create a bigger instrumental soundscape.

“You’re ungrateful / For the love I give to you” Garwood repeats throughout the song, her anguish tangible. 

Closing the EP is title track “Everything.” In keeping with the sort of up one song, down the next pattern of the project, the track expresses a multitude of conflicting emotions, and the final state of the relationship detailed within the lyrics is unclear.

One thing, though, is certain: Garwood is “not scared of love,” a sentiment she repeats against the deep hum of percussion, her voice soaring with clarity. 

This sort of yin and yang nature of life and love was a theme Garwood set out to explore in the songs. “It’s about embracing all the universe has for you – the good and bad – and trusting the process,” she said in an Instagram post announcing Everything. 

Stream the EP below.