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.”
Eric Ripper performs with Jonny Neville at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor last fall. Photo – Lance McQuesten of McQuesten Media
Eric Ripper doesn’t see life as a glass that’s half-empty or half-full.
Instead, the Ferndale pop-rock singer-songwriter sees it as brimming with changing priorities on his candid new single, “Fill My Glass,” out March 17.
“I wrote ‘Fill My Glass’ about five or six years ago, so it’s an older song,” Ripper said. “I didn’t remake this one for my Story Notes album, but I’ve been thinking for a while that this one could be played a lot faster. This song is also on my Empty Place EP.”
Determined acoustic guitar, fiery electric guitar, hefty bass, thumping drums and crashing cymbals prompt sharing struggles of self-doubt and seeking validation from a confidant.
Ripper sings, “I think I’ve had enough / I just wanna give up / Will you tell me that I’m wrong / So I can think differently about myself.”
“I wrote this song about a girl I was seeing at the time,” he said. “I interpret the lyrics as the character speaking to a bartender, addressing his problems and wanting the reassurance that he’s not wrong about what he’s thinking and feeling. He wants to think differently about himself in general.”
After confiding in the bartender, the character shifts to confronting his partner and their lack of commitment toward the end of “Fill My Glass.”
Ripper sings, “So what you say / You gonna give me an input / We’ve been here for an hour / And I’m feeling quite sour / Said ‘I’ve had enough of the bullshit’/ ‘Are you ready for commitment?’”
“He’s tired, and he’s had enough of all of this. He doesn’t want to believe that they have given up though. He needs the reassurance that he’s wrong so he can think differently about the two of them,” Ripper said.
“‘Fill My Glass’ is saying how he needs validation from others on how to feel. He’s sticking up for himself to an extent, but he still needs the reassurance from others when he should truly be doing that on his own.”
“We found the right tones we needed and mapped out the song to slowly build up and have the second chorus be really heavy-hitting. He had the idea of the sounds backing away and coming back at the intro of the second chorus, a bit influenced by Travis Barker’s production style,” he said.
“We knew we needed a killer solo to end the song, and I asked Jonny if he could come in and lay something down, and he nailed it. The rest of the song is my guitar playing.”
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