Eva Stone - I Don't Miss You At All

Every November, before all the big guns roll out their tips for the year ahead Breaking More Waves goes early and publishes its own Ones to Watch list for the forthcoming year, which consists of 10 or 15 artists. Cast your mind back to 2013 and our 10 Ones to Watch 2014 included a few acts who have gone on to be reasonably commercially successful in the UK (Jungle, George Ezra, Banks) as well as some who have grown steadily so that come the start of 2015 they are still appearing on others' Ones to Watch lists (Wolf Alice, Iyes). But there were also a couple who in terms of releases haven’t been particularly forthcoming. 

First up was Katie Taylor aka Mononoke who did at least put out some songs at the start of the year, but then seemed to go pretty much silent with the exception of some pictures posted on her Facebook page including one that stated “I died, R.I.P me,” in December 2014. Oh dear. 

Second was Eva Stone, who has yet to get a proper single release out. However, a quick look at Eva’s Facebook page reveals that perhaps we were just a tad too early with our One to Watch tip, 2014 hasn’t been a fully unproductive year, with some of her highlights being supporting Vance Joy, Paolo Nutini, Nitin Sawhney and most importantly from a musical perspective “ recording some of the best material I've written in a while with a friend in a wee bedroom in Sunderland.” Maybe Eva will crop on somone’s One to Watch for 2016 or even 2017 list? Who knows.

However, towards the end of 2014 there was a release of sorts. For Daisy Digital’s It’s Coming On Christmas 2014 charity LP, Eva recorded a beautiful cover of the Norah Jones song Don’t Miss You At All (which she’s added a sneaky 'I' onto the title). Yesterday Eva uploaded it to her Soundcloud. Whilst the song evokes all the atmosphere of a Christmas song (snow falling down, children playing) it fits any melancholy winter day and so we think it's worth another listen now. If you missed it on the Christmas compilation, take a gentle moment out to soak up its tenderness and grace.

Eva Stone - I Don't Miss You At All

Eva Stone - Runaway Lover (Live Session Version Video)

Every year since the blog's birth, come late November / early December, Breaking More Waves publishes its own Ones To Watch list for the forthcoming year. We’ve always gone much earlier than many other blogs or websites, partly to avoid any accusation of copying others should our choices be the same, particularly if as usually happens a few of our selections crop up on the likes of the ubiquitous BBC Sound of List or its smaller distant cousin the UK Blog Sound of List, which we help compile. 

This year more sites than ever before seemed to publish Ones to Watch / Hopes for 2014 lists, some of them verging on the ridiculous – we saw lists of 100 and even 214 acts being published, often with no commentary as to why they were included on the list. Frankly who has the time to sit and listen to 214 bands? That’s over 10 hours of listening. It’s why we’ve always kept the format of our list to 10 or 15 acts and published one a day, with some text to explain why we think they’re One to Watch for the forthcoming year. Of course we don’t always get it ‘right’ but that’s all part of the fun isn’t it? 

Amongst the acts we list we’ve always tried to find one or two that we guess are unlikely to crop up on many other lists, not because they’re not worthy of inclusion, but because they’re probably a little too under the radar at that particular stage.  In previous years amongst this category we’ve included the likes of Clare Maguire and Marina & The Diamonds (both a full year before the BBC Sound of List). Of our Ones to Watch for 2014 probably Eva Stone is the artist who most easily fits that early-doors category, having yet to release a single or EP and with just the smallest collection of songs online.

We’ve written before about Eva’s voice which oozes classic blues and soul references, allowing us to use the words Britain’s got talent without thinking of Simon Cowell. Now here’s another display of those vocals on a session version of a song called Runaway Lover (which was previously titled just Runaway, see an earlier version here) which was premiered on Line of Best Fit on Friday. The song is formed around a gritty rootsy riff and once again places what comes out of Eva's mouth central stage.

Eva Stone - Runaway Lover (Live Session Version Video)

Ones To Watch 2014 - #9 Eva Stone

Our penultimate one to watch is Eva Stone. Eva has a voice that doesn’t just make us go weak at the knees but makes them crumble to dust. 

She’s appeared on the blog before, but you may not recognise her name; the sharp eared amongst you will however find a strong similarity to this lady, because Amy and Eva are one and the same. So why the name change?

“I’ve had this question many times…I think people struggled with it a little at first because I’d been so, present, should I say, with my real name. But this decision wasn’t whimsical or sudden. I’ve always wanted to change my name, and it was my decision alone. I mean, stage wise, people hear it and remember it more. The timing of the change really represented where I was at too, what with my move to London, to writing and developing my songs to something that people maybe aren’t too familiar with (for me). It wasn’t a change in my music though, or in myself. The name is more of me becoming who I want to be,” she recently told Hunger TV.

Irrespective of if Eva is called Amy, Julie, Barbie or Scrubber, we really don’t care – she has the voice, a full bodied and magnificent voice that creates magic. Now what we have to hope for is that she can deliver the songs. She's certainly made an impressive start with This Is and it's for that reason that we’re naming her as One to Watch for 2014. Prepare to be wowed with both the beautiful piano version on Soundcloud and an acoustic guitar version on You Tube.

Eva Stone - This Is



Eva Stone - This Is (Video)