Dryadic’s new EP, Redevelop Our Souls, is a folk-rock firebrand that wears its politics and its heart on its sleeve.
The opener, “Redevelop Our Souls,” kicks things off with flute melodies darting over steady drums before Zora’s rich, full-bodied voice enters. She sings with conviction, her lines slicing through the noise of political spin. She sings, “Flattened, demolished, do away with the old / You think you can just redevelop our souls,” slapping the irony on our faces and showing how housing policy can be an act of erasure. Then, the repetition of “We are the urban decay, you might sneer, but we won’t go away” insists that communities are more than collateral in the march of privatisation.
But Dryadic doesn’t keep things heavy throughout. “Good to Be Alive” shifts gears as it opens with gentle guitar plucks and an easy, sunlit groove. Zora’s high, vivid vocal floats over simple joys, like coffee brewing, warm breezes, and slow walks. She shows how much she values intimacy as she sings, “I don’t need to be or try to say stuff too / It’s good to be alive and hang with you,” counterbalancing the EP’s political fire with the connection that makes us human.
Then comes “Smiling in the Dark,” a song recognizing the intensity of intimacy. Over catchy rhythms and sweeping strings, Zora reflects on vulnerability with tender awe. The simple joys are revisited as she sings, “The gift of your chest’s rise and fall nestled in my arms,” cinematically turning domestic stillness into poetry. It’s raw, unapologetic romance, sung with the same conviction as their protest anthems.
Altogether, Redevelop Our Souls has Dryadic coming together to encourage all that really feeds our souls while barring and fighting what doesn’t.
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Review by: Naomi Joan