Who is Ecota?
Art by Frankie Fanelli
Valerija Michailova or just Val (she/they), was born in Lithuania and moved to Newcastle at the age of 18. She got her start learning piano when she was 6 years old and started learning guitar at 15. Before 2020 they tried to be in college bands but found the music she was playing didn’t let her express herself fully.
At the beginning of 2020, Michailova started producing her own music and putting it on Soundcloud. A year after she finally decided to release her debut EP and started getting more attention.
The songs on their EP are about her feelings and struggles that she experienced during lockdown. Only her song “Sunset” goes a bit in a different direction because it was written in the beginning of 2020, when “it was still alright”.
In “Sunset”, Michailova explains a story about rough moments in a relationship.
When asked about her intentions for this album, Valerija states: “In the EP, I wanted to make a cleaner sound than my previous songs so they would be more listenable.When I decided to record my album, all I knew was that it would be in indie/dream pop style, but for example Right Now turned out more upbeat than I expected. But I’m happy how all the songs sound in the end.”
When asked about who influenced her music, Michailova states that while recording and composing this EP, they “mostly listen to Girl in Red, Tame Impala, Clairo and Frances Forever.” Michailova explains that there’s really big difference between them, yet she still managed to take some influences from all of them
The album consists of mostly guitar, a synth, and sample drums.the techniques used in her songs were influenced by British and Russian indie/post punk music, especially lead guitar parts.
Review
When listening to these songs, they had a vibe similar to Dayglow and Girl in Red which I noticed right off the bat. Her voice is very unique and sounds more real and genuine than the viral TikTok sounds you hear all the time. I appreciate raw and individual styles and Ecota manages to capture this individuality while still sounding catchy. Her songs definitely show emotion, as she was channeling out all of her feelings from this sudden life changing pandemic that affected everyone differently. My personal favorite of the songs would be “Sunset”. Ecota is available on SoundCloud, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music! So go check her out!
