Review by Mark Ventrice

RIYL: Plug In Stereo, He Is We

Recommended Tracks: “Crying Game”, “Cause I Said No”

The promising singer songwriter from Oklahoma makes her triumphant return to music after an almost 3 year hiatus with her newest EP Dreams. Cady Groves returns to her old form here with a combination of happy and catchy pop songs like “Cause I Said No” and “Dreams”, and songs with deeper meanings to them like “Oil & Water” and “Crying Game”.

The most notable song on the EP is “Crying Game” because it is her pouring her heart out in her life story. The song talks about seeing her father go to prison when she was 6 and seeing him there on Christmas. She then talks about how difficult it was for her single mother raising seven kids. Then she goes to talk about when she was 18 one of her brothers died and then seven years later another one died and she sings about the difficulty of going through that. The song culminates with the message of not taking any day or anyone for granted and “life is fragile and can slip away.” Her sharp vocals fit this song well and the quiet acoustic beat that builds throughout the song as she gets to the final message also fits very well.

“Cause I Said No” is a lot faster and happier while she sings about if a guy only likes her because she said no to him or not. The song is basically the embodiment of the “You want what you can’t have” trope but she makes it work better than many other versions out there. It’s very catchy and happy and it shows a lot of what she is capable of.

One of the most notable things about her is her very unique vocals. They are sharp but not too sharp that it would make her difficult to listen to but they are sharp enough to be incredibly useful. She is a fantastic singer and this EP is amazing.