Fay Burns is ready to turn the page.

That turn starts a new chapter for the Royal Oak, Michigan singer-songwriter and guitarist, who’s embracing a different sound and releasing her debut EP, Full Circle.

“I’ve taken the approach these days that if I’m not making music that I love and it isn’t just 100 percent me, then I don’t want to bother,” Burns said.

“I don’t want to make music that sounds like somebody else, and I don’t want to make music that’s trying to sound like somebody else. I feel like this is the first time I’ve made something of that nature where it says, ‘This is me.’”

Burns’ authenticity permeates all four tracks on Full Circle, which features a turbocharged indie-pop-rock sound in place of the previous folk, bluegrass, and Americana territory she explored as half of the former duo Escaping Pavement.

“This time, it’s all about finding the sound, making the introduction, and putting it out there in the world as a starting point,” she said. “It’s the start of something new.”

Coming Full Circle

As part of that new start, Burns shares reflective lyrics and cathartic instrumentation about leaving the past behind and looking to the future on Full Circle. It also represents a return to the pop-rock music she used to play in high school and later while working on cruise ships.

“For me, it’s been a time of massive growth and so much learning. When I first started doing Fay Burns and The Embers, it was an acoustic trio because that’s what I thought I needed to do. I probably wrote about 20 songs that ended up being still in that vein, and they were all about things that were going on in my life and about growth and change,” Burns said.

“It wasn’t until I heard the Harry Styles song, [“Music for a Sushi Restaurant”], and I thought, ‘This is cool,’ and it was fun. Sometimes things hit you the right way at the right time, and I realized that’s what I needed. That’s when I decided to turn Fay Burns and The Embers into more of a rock thing because that’s what I love. That’s when the last songs that I wrote ended being what is now on the EP.”

To open the EP, Burns starts with “Recurring Dream,” a bold anthem about deciphering subconscious thoughts and translating them into real-life behaviors.

Backed by determined electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synth, bass, and drums, she sings, “I’ve had recurring dreams / Of running through drying concrete / I accepted the fate / That I’d be where I’d stay / Till I began to see the relief.”

“The one about sitting in the backseat of a car trying to steer it from back there and having no one in the car with you—that’s something I used to have as a kid. I just randomly remembered that when I was writing that song,” said Burns, who hails from Oxford, Michigan.

“The one about the friends laughing and the drying concrete, those were actual ones that I had in recent history. We all have them at different moments in our lives, and I’m sure psychologists could run wild with that.”

After facing her “Recurring Dream,” Burns confronts a disintegrating relationship and unexpected life changes on “Drove My Love Away.”

Fueled by fiery electric guitar, bass, and drums, she sings, “You just drove / My love / Away / Like a ‘70s Chevelle burning through downtown LA / You just drove / My love / Away / You put the brick on the gas and sent me on my way / So now I’m gone / Oh so gone / So gone.”

“It feels very empowering … and it was fun to go into the studio and do some screaming. It’s like my Billie-Eilish-meets-Brandi-Carlile moment, and I like bringing those worlds of that different type of stuff together,” Burns said.

“That song started because I had the random line pop into my head of ‘Like a ‘70s Chevelle burning through downtown LA.’ I spent time in LA, and I’m sure that’s something that used to happen there in the ‘70s. I thought, ‘This is too good to throw away. I have to find a way to incorporate this into a song.’”

Next, Burns receives a bittersweet letter from the past and finds closure on “Beautiful Face.” Comforted by apologetic electric guitar, synth, bass, and drums, she sings, “It’s a memory / Of what was / Of road trips taken just because / Of morning coffee chats / Never too much time on tap / I know it’s for the best / So why is my heart beating right out of my chest?”

“This was like my own prompt of ‘What if you got a letter that said everything you needed it to say?’ It’s just the idea of getting that and how to make that into a song. I liked that idea and imagery of ‘The letter I never got lives in my mind’s memory box,’” Burns said.

“That was the impetus for that whole thing, and I wrote that song in half an hour one night. I’m proud of the chord changes in that song—it gets a little grungy at points, and then it mixes in some pop elements.”

Finally, Burns tackles the challenges of uncertainty and change on “Game of Life.” Surrounded by confident electric guitar, bass, and drums, she sings, “So I ran from all that I was / From all I knew and loved / For all that I was / Was not for me / A new life was within my reach.”

“It’s saying, ‘This is a game, but I don’t have to keep going in the same direction that I am. I can do whatever I want,’” she said. “It felt like a great way to bring it full circle, and I remember thinking that when I listened to it. I thought, ‘This has to be the last song.’”

Changing Course

For Burns, writing the tracks for Full Circle felt like a breath of fresh air. She had previously penned 20 tracks that represented her prior sound but landed on four songs that reflected a new creative direction.

“I whittled it down to these four because they felt like the most cohesive, sensical statement to make,” said Burns, who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Eric Clapton. “To me, they read a little bit like a diary.”

Two of the EP’s tracks, “Recurring Dream” and “Game of Life,” started to take shape when Burns attended The Milk Carton Kids Sad Songs Summer Camp in July 2022 in the Catskill Mountains.

“That’s when they started, but they didn’t necessarily get finished then and put into their final form,” Burns said. “But that’s when the seeds got planted.”

Once the four tracks sprouted, Burns recorded them with co-producer Andy Reed of Bay City, Michigan’s Reed Recording Company in 2023. Reed also played synth as well as drums on two tracks and bass on three.

“He’s really creative with all the synth-type stuff and adding the textural sounds,” she said. “I handled all the guitar stuff, but he still helped me shape different tones or distortions that we would use in some of the songs. The synth area is what he really dug into … and finding those things that made these songs have an ambiance and a vibe to them.”

Besides Reed, Burns collaborated with The Accidentals drummer Katelynn Corll, bassist Kosta Kapellas, and vocalist Kate Hinote of The Blueflowers and the Kate Hinote Trio on Full Circle.

“Katelynn is supremely talented, and I think the world of her. She’s a total sweetheart and just a gem of a human being, so it was nice to have her do that stuff. And she just smashes on the drum kit, and she just rocks it like crazy,” she said.

“Kate is one of my best friends, and I love her dearly. I’ve known her for over 10 years, and I’ve always thought she has an incredible voice. Kosta used to play bass with Escaping Pavement … but playing upright bass wasn’t necessarily what he grew up doing. He was more of a funk-rock-jazz bass player, so it’s been fun to get him back into doing that.”

Looking Ahead

Kapellas and Hinote will help Burns rock her new songs live during a May 10 EP release show at The Susan Haskew Arts Center in Milford, Michigan with The Embers. Burns’ band also will include drummer Vince Russo, guitarist Michael Harrington, and vocalist Erin Williams Browne.

“I have about 12 originals that I’ll be playing, so there are eight songs that are not on the EP. They run the gamut, and a lot of them are pretty fun though,” said Burns, who will feature Hinote, Tony Hamera, and Williams Browne as the show’s openers.

“And then I’ve got a handful covers I’m gonna do, and I thought, ‘Well, I should play some covers of songs that I used to do when I was a teenager since we’re going full circle.’ We’re gonna play a Led Zeppelin song and a Beatles tune, probably one of the more rockin’ ones.”

After the show, Burns is performing June 21 at Northville Winery and Brewing Company in Northville, Michigan. Then, she’s joining Annie Capps’ Badass Women Band July 12 at Blissfest in Petoskey, Michigan and playing with The Embers at the Tamarack Music Fest July 27 in Morley, Michigan.

“I’ll be doing some random little solo gigs and playing up north at a couple of distilleries and wineries,” Burns said. “I’ve been doing some side work being a guitarist for other people in the last year or so, and it’s been fun to do that and be part of other projects.”

In addition to playing shows, Burns continues to write new material and hopes to release another single later this year.

“The song and lyrics kept pouring out of me, and I already have an entire album’s worth of other stuff I’ve written,” she said. “It will be interesting to get this [EP] out, and then probably get the next [project] out hopefully in a year. I might do a single later this year because I know people are doing that stuff now.”

Show details:

Fay Burns Full Circle EP Release Party

Friday, May 10 | Doors 6:30 p.m. & Show 7 p.m.

The Suzanne Haskew Arts Center attached to River’s Edge Brewing, 125 S. Main St. #700 in Milford

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