Deep and raw feelings are placed in the firing line on Manning’s relatable collection.

The majority of us will experience periods of our lives where we can find ourselves feeling rather low, perhaps for a particular reason, perhaps not. In spite of the reason or lack of, when stuck in the shadowy corners of our overcrowded minds, sprinklings of light still manage to seep through. Like illuminating rays bringing much needed solace, these sprinklings of light are often recognised as hope. On his latest project, ‘Brighter Days,’ Lando Manning expresses feelings of hope from within a dark place in which he often found himself during the development of its five tracks.

Opener, ‘Moondrenched Eyes’ drifts slowly like a fog in light wind crossing an open field in the English countryside. Its simplistic and repetitive nature gently nurtures deep thoughts of lost friends, lost lovers and an uneasy loneliness. ‘Driftwood,’ which follows, offers some more uplifting moments among the downcast mood, brought forth by an optimistic-sounding, feather-light piano.

‘Tulip Fever’ is a stunning instrumental arrangement, with fingerpicked guitars folding amongst each other in all their folksy glory. Like the sun breaking through on an uninviting morning, it feels cleansing, a wash of cold water bringing back senses that felt long diminished. Though fourth track, ’Sugar In The Sun,’ shares a similar fingerpicked guitar tone to its previous instrumental track, Manning brings things back to a sadder reality with his eerie and melancholy vocals before closing the EP with title track and previous single ‘Brighter days’.

There is a real openness that comes from Manning amongst this new collection. Without hesitation, deep and raw feelings are put in the firing line. For an artist, dissecting and growing from those feelings is a necessity in order to express them in such a vulnerable and honest manner. That is what we feel under the spell of artists like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake and Townes Van Zandt. Like Manning, these poets and storytellers tend to find themselves most comfortable simply with an acoustic guitar and not much else as they unveil themselves. Treading along exposed paths, they have become pillars for the lonely and lugubrious. Such artists present their work from close to their hearts, like a letter from a distant lover tucked away amongst the buttons of an inner breast pocket.