EP Review: Fish Bird baby boy-Georgia gets by

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EP’s are possibly the least defined type of music project. The literal meaning of EP is “Extended Play”, meant to distinguish it from a single or an album. However, despite this definition, artists like Kendrick Lamar, Car Seat Headrest, and The Flaming Lips have all released EP’s that run over an hour long. They also have tracklists that are longer than some supposed “albums”. Luckily, Georgia Gets By (stage name for Georgia Nott, formerly of BROODS) was sensible when releasing their new project Fish Bird Baby Boy. Instead of releasing a few plucky singles and calling it a day, or releasing a collection of five 11-minute songs that are simply insufferable, they decided to serve up a tight 15-minute, 5 track EP.

The project kicks off with Oh Lana, a song that Nott has stated is about their first queer crush. It kicks off with a subtle crescendo of ambient noise and a plucky synth-guitar duo before Nott’s vocals arrive, carrying a different tone than the likes of BROODS releases such as Space Island. She explores more of her vocal range in this song than in previous releases, and this exploration finds gold. The layered harmonies behind the main vocals give this song an ethereal aesthetic that you’ll keep coming back to. The song’s inspiration is apparent, as it would be just as appropriate for a couple’s first slow dance as it would for an absolute meltdown after getting dumped. Guitars rush in at just the right time during the last chorus, as Nott repeats the lyrics, Would it be so bad … To love you? If the love is as good as this opener, I can tell Lana that it wouldn’t have been so bad.

The next song on the EP is Easier to Run, another spacey track akin to artists like dayaway. It’s at this point where a phrase comes to mind: hopeful melancholy. This feeling is pervasive throughout the album, and it feels like this could have a role in the commercial success of the project. It is most evident in Easier to Run, as Nott sings about how it’s easier to run away from problems, but the allure of finding a solution to those problems is even more tantalizing. The truth, after all, may be easier to bear than the lies spoken to keep from addressing the elephant in the room. Easier to Run is the most upbeat song on the album and if any of these tracks were poised for a commercial breakout, I would put my money on this one.

Happiness Is An 8 Ball is the EP’s third song. This is the shortest song within the project, and that’s for good reason. While I would say that the song is objectively good, it quickly wears its welcome and the short run time helps it retain the good impression that it initially makes. This is probably the most unremarkable song on the EP, but Nott’s vocals still make it worth listening to, and the end of the song sets listeners up for the next song, and that alone makes this track worthy of being included.

So Free So Lonely is the most well written song from a lyrical standpoint, and luckily it has a highly complementary set of instrumentation and vocal performance. The track mainly consists of acoustic guitar, some light strings, along with one of the greatest instruments ever made: the good ol’ pedal steel guitar. All of these are used in conjunction to highlight the emotion in Nott’s voice, even though the vocals do enough on that end by themselves. It’s not often that a song has just the right amount of rise and fall, ebb and flow, but this song is up there as a candidate. When So Free So Lonely ends it slowly fades and then … just stops. This leaves you wanting more, and gives the song more replay value. Overall, this is the best song on the album and it serves as the biggest distinction between Georgia Nott of BROODS and this new solo project. This song feels the most like an expression of what is to come, and is followed up perfectly with the closing track.

Fish Bird Baby Boy, the title-track as well as the only original release on this EP, serves as the closer. The wide-open space production style similar to Ashlynn Malia and Jurassic Shark comes back, but this song takes the successes of So Free So Lonely, turns the reverb dial to around eight, and just makes you ache. I’m talking about that sitting alone in your room and making a crying playlist kind of ache; that heavy sigh and look out the window kind of ache; the ache that makes you start to wonder if you’re developing an ulcer. We’ve all felt it, and luckily we have amazing people like Georgia Nott to give that feeling to us. It’s therapeutic, despite the sadness, and sometimes you need to just lay in bed and feel like a Fish Bird Baby Boy.

This EP was released on October 6th, 2023 which hopefully means we will be getting a full-length album from Georgia Gets By in the coming year. If so, look for it so you can tell your friends that you heard it first. I’m sure that given the industry experience and the evident talent that Georgia Nott has as a musician, any project that she is involved in will make you stop in your track if only for a second. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and let us know what we should review next.

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