EP REVIEW : To Remind Me of Home by Gatlin

To Remind Me of Home EP artwork.
[image from : source]

Nashville indie pop artist Gatlin examines the internal and external dilemmas of young adulthood in new EP, To Remind Me of Home.

Your early twenties are a time of uncertainty. You might be moving away from your hometown for the first time, leaving the people you grew up with, and feeling unsure how to fit into your life. On her sophomore EP, Nashville singer-songwriter Gatlin gives life to this uncanny feeling by exposing the intimate difficulties of defining your relationship with yourself and the people around you. Released 25 June 2021, To Remind Me of Home follows Gatlin's attempts to find a place where she belongs. 

Opening track "What If I Love You" is light, airy, and driven by Gatlin's soaring falsetto, which contrasts with her soul-crushing realization that the person she loved deeply has moved on. The song has Gatlin lament over lost love in a way that emphasizes how she's missed her "once in a lifetime" chance at happiness, playing into the common young adulthood worry that you need to have your life figured out by the time you're 23. 

Conversely, the piercing urgency of the rolling percussion in "Whenever He Asks" highlights a desperation to feel something in a relationship, even when you know it's not going to work out. Gatlin illustrates the loneliness of devoting herself to a person who's ultimately just using her, as she reveals in the bridge, "I feel emptier than if I had left / Wanted a home, but I'm just a guest." Along a similar vein, "Sugarcoated" captures an emotionally detached relationship as Gatlin's sweet voice takes on a new edge, remarking "I don't want to hear you miss me / When you're close enough to kiss me." 

Gatlin closes the EP by turning inward on "Hospital," a quiet but captivating ode to her relationship with her mental health. Over tender acoustic guitar and whimsy chimes, her echoey voice yearns for happiness, peace, and home.

Yet throughout these four songs, Gatlin prompts us to wonder what a home might be—a place, a person, yourself, or even something more? For early twenty-somethings, the definition of home is often fluid and unstable as we try to find our rhythm in life. But as Gatlin notes on "Hospital," maybe a home is something we have to build for ourselves—and it takes vivid experiences like the ones on To Remind Me of Home to get there. 

Listen to To Remind Me of Home by Gatlin on Spotify and Apple Music.