Alvin - Seven Oaks [Fresh Alternative R&B from Manchester, UK]

Alvin evokes depth and delicacy in his newly-released second EP, Seven Oaks, which came to fruition after gaining support from BBC’s “Introducing in Manchester” on his debut EP, Many Happy Returns in 2019.

The EP emerges as the latest unraveling of the Manchester born-and-raised artist’s soul-searching through his blend of alternative R&B and soul. Each of the album’s five songs are stepping stones on a journey increasingly revealing an introspective expansion of the artist’s mind and heart.

Shrouded in secrecy, outside Alvin’s melodic outpourings, he discloses nothing more than bite-sized fragments about his music, which serve more as hints rather than clarifications. About the album, Alvin’s few words of self-description are as concise as they are a question mark in and of itself—“seven tales of poetic paranoia.” Seven tales over five tracks? What is “poetic paranoia”?

Taking these questions into the album, together with the black-and-white motion photography in Alvin’s visuals, and the smooth production by Houston’s Anthony D Luxe and Berlin’s Awndrei, the listener encounters a noir-like motion, darkness blended with beauty, reflecting the confrontation between the mind’s paradoxes and the emotional release that the music provides both artist and listener.

Seven Oaks comes as a major artistic milestone for Alvin, after the music video for his captivating and psychedelic single, “The Rise,” and toward a soon-release of the video for his song, “Sentient,” and a project is also coming this summer.

Stream Alvin - Seven Oaks [EP]: