by Philip Moss

For a new artist, it can take years to find their sound – and for them to establish it, before even releasing their debut album, is unheard of. But that’s where Chloe Studebaker aka Zelma Stone bucks the trend.

Gift Horse, the first release from upcoming EP, The Best, follows on exactly where last year’s Dreamland EP left off. With a similar swagger to one of her favourite artists, Amen Dunes, everything is in its right place – as Studebaker’s music exists in a space that is entirely its own. She is unfazed – and no longer looking back at the grief that inspired her last collection, there is a desire for control that’s not, yet, fully realised, as she whispers,  ‘I’m only doing what I know best, maybe I’m falling fast?’ Quietly, with a growing, understated confidence, Gift Horse is another slow burning, brilliant taster from the Bay Area artist.

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