Erika Ascenzo's 'Bound' Is A Perfect Showcase Of Her Soaring Vocals

Erika Ascenzo. Photo supplied.

Melbourne singer/songwriter Erika Ascenzo’s music is a melting pot of influences, from the jazz greats she aspired to be when she was younger, to the synthpop sounds of today. It’s taken her some time and self-reflection to truly define her sound, but on her latest single Bound, she puts forward a blueprint for what her music will sound like in the future.

Bound follows on from 2019’s Continuum, and the time between that release and this one has been essential for the evolution of her music. Where Continuum was a starting point for Erika's music, Bound is a metaphorical release of the shackles. She needed the time since Continuum to hone in on her strengths and Bound is a realisation of the sounds she’s been imagining since she first started writing music.

Bound centres Erika’s vocals with great effect. The track’s production floats around her vocals, with the drumline keeping the song moving, but you’ll be focusing on her voice the whole time you’re listening (and for good reason).

Speaking about the track, Erika says she found writing the song a freeing experience, because it’s an expression of the music she truly wants to make. "Bound allowed me to find my voice. It's become the marker for the kind of music I want to continually release into this world. I think it's strong because I had such a clear vision for this track, and I'm so lucky to have a team that I could collaborate with to make it a reality.

"I think it's easy as an emerging artist to doubt yourself. To think you have to be better than you are or be different or sound different. But Bound was such a freeing experience. I went into the studio with clear ideas and for the first time I let it all spill out honestly without fear.  It allowed my true sound to come out through this beautiful marriage between vocal tone and beat production."

I’m always impressed when I hear someone acknowledge the struggle that artists have initially when they begin to write music, There’s an expectation that your best song is your first, when that’s not always the case - after all, it took The Cure eight albums to write their best work in Disintegration, at least in my opinion anyway.

Bound is a great showcase of the potential Erika has, both in terms of her vocals, and her ear for production. There’s always a temptation when you have such a strong singing voice like Erika does to make that the sole focus - but you have to trust your listeners to hone in on that, and make sure the rest of the track meets the standards of your vocals. On Bound, that’s exactly the case.

Check out Bound below. I’ll be keeping an ear out for what Erika does next, and after you’ve heard the song, I bet you will as well.