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Over a year ago I had one of those moments as an indie music supporter that froze me in my spot. I was doomscrolling on TikTok, prepped to flippantly lose hours of my life, when I found a song that has played in my head since. My discovery of ‘Flip Phone’ by Annika Kilkenny was torturous. I learnt how to play it on guitar and played it repeatedly – despite it not having the same impact with my voice. I returned to the video, watching the same 120 seconds of music to get my fix. Today, after a very long wait, my morning scroll of TikTok finally gave me what I wanted – it had been released last week, alongside 4 other tracks, in the EP Make Yourself At Home, released 5th February; so, I was very excited to see if it was worth the wait…

 

I’ve done very little in anticipation of Flip Phone being released beyond what TikTok has shown me. I’ve heard multiple original songs performed acoustically on Kilkenny’s TikTok, every video demonstrating her incredible ability to write music and tell a story. This EP is a hauntingly beautiful extension – the songs are well produced without overcomplicating the soundscape, inviting the listener to stop in their tracks and listen to every word.

This is important, because Annika Kilkenny will not only tell you a story, but also weave a significant amount of wordplay and clever lyricism with every line. A busier production style would drown this out, but much like her minimalist approach to social media, she keeps the focus on the words and beauty of her singing. Instead, the EP is constructed subtly, creating beautiful soundscapes supporting Annika Kilkenny in her story telling. Winter on the west coast and Headache, the first and second tracks respectively, both remain ambient and relaxing, but utilise Kilkenny’s unique vocal sound to captivate the listener. In Headache, the song flows beautifully, with a reverberated piano that feels taken from the menu of an indie video game, into thicker harmonised choruses. The first two songs, of which I went into blindly, were a beautiful surprise. Often, when I fall in love with a single song, the EP can be disappointing in comparison. But Flip Phone– the third track of the EP– fit this like a glove.

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Annika Kilkenny feature from theinfluences.com

Flip Phone does require some focus here. As the song that let me discover Annika Kilkenny, and the song I had played maybe 100 times on TikTok through the acoustic performance previously posted, I knew what I was getting into. I had a preconceived understanding of where the song should go and how it should sound. However, Annika Kilkenny (and the producers behind this track!) did a masterful job to not only capture the raw beauty of this song, but develop it into something more commercially developed. Now, I am a person who hates change. So instinctively, the implementation of a more defined chorus was easy to dislike. There was a charm to the A/B structure on the TikTok performance - but after more listens it’s a perfect addition to the record. The “rock your boat about” feels completely right for the song, and adds another layer to the clever lyrics of the verses. 

No man’s land is once again, uniquely beautiful. Every Annika Kilkenny original song I’ve heard has an incredible technique of lyricism, taking common idioms and creating entire emotional narratives around them. (A great example is found in, yet again, an unreleased TikTok performance of “Been there done that got the t-shirt” - a quick note, if you’re Annika Kilkenny, please can you release your debut album as soon as possible, I can’t deal with having to switch between spotify and your TikTok!)

The only downside or negative comment I have about the EP is that it’s only an EP. The final track, Welcome to the neighbourhood felt more like the artistic dynamic-relief that would sit in the midpoint of an album, but instead was the end of the record. I wanted more, which is only a good thing. Maybe this would have been avoidable with a different track order? But all in all, Make Yourself At Home has turned Annika Kilkenny from a nice surprise on my FYP on TikTok into a genuine Folk artist that everybody should listen to. Her sound is similar to the early works of Taylor Swift, with clever writing and beautiful performances vocally and on guitar, as well as bringing back the folk sounds of the mid-2000s. I thought of Ingrid Michaelson’s album “Everybody”, or an artist closer to home for Kilkenny, Lisa Hannigan, who creates similar soulful folk music from Ireland. 

I hope, as Annika Kilkenny continues down her destined path to folk-song greatness, she continues developing much like the song “flip phone”, adding smart and subtle ways of becoming more commercially viable, without losing the beautiful essence of her sound and storytelling.

 

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