Stream: August Eve, ‘Ashes’

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August Eve (Photo by Bethany Vargas)

August Eve doesn’t so much as melt hearts as vaporize them.

The rising pop-soul singer, who lit a flame for fans when she released two singles this past spring, will kindle it on Nov. 19 when she releases her debut EP, “Ashes in a Vase,” via Mad Decent.

Last week, Eve released the luminous, string-drenched single “Ashes,” a tune she described as “about feeling like the people closest to you are emotionally unreachable and the expectations we have on them.” For a debut, the EP tackles weighty material: The 22-year-old cites fantasy as escapism, superficial and emotionally void connections, denial and fear and unhealthy coping mechanisms as her topics on the table … or in her vessel, as it were. “The whole concept of ‘Ashes in a Vase’ alludes to this feeling and idea: the charred remains of something that once was, housed in something picturesque and marvel-worthy,” she says.

The single is a glossy, cinematic five minutes that like all her music so far was entirely written, performed and produced by Eve, who got her start as a singer in Catholic school choir, is self-taught on piano, bass and guitar and released her first DIY single when she was 17. Fans of Sade might swoon a little.

||| Stream: “Ashes”

||| Previously: “You Already Know”