Eve Buckley Strips It Back: A Full-Circle Return to ‘Some Kind of Solace’

One year on from the release of her debut EP Some Kind of Solace, Leeds-based singer-songwriter Eve Buckley is revisiting the project in its most vulnerable form yet. Swapping layered production for raw, intimate arrangements, these solo versions spotlight the heart of her songwriting—just voice, guitar, and emotion. It’s a reflective, full-circle moment that not only celebrates how far the songs have travelled, but also reintroduces them exactly as they began: honest, exposed, and deeply personal.

1. Releasing solo versions of Some Kind of Solace marks a full-circle moment—what made you want to revisit these songs in their most stripped-back form?

It really does! I wanted to celebrate the life these songs have taken on in the past couple of years and the people they’ve found by recording some alternate versions which I think can deepen your connection to a song when you hear it in a different context or completely stripped of all its layers. Whenever an artist I love releases alternate/solo versions of their songs I think it can make them take on a whole new meaning when you just hear the bare bones of it.

2. You’ve described the EP as a “resting place” during the ups and downs of young adulthood—how has your relationship to these songs changed over the past year?

I think the longer they exist in the world and the more I play them live the more meanings I find in them which weren’t obvious at the time of writing them. There’s a lot of realisations I had whilst writing and making the EP that I still remind myself of today, even though I wrote some of these songs 3 or 4 years ago when I was only just entering my twenties. I think they have messages in them that will ring throughout my whole life because the EP is about self-discovery and finding peace and resolution in chaos, which is an ongoing thing in life I think.

3. Your sound blends alternative soul with jazz-infused pop—how did your influences like Lianne La Havas and Jordan Rakei shape these more intimate solo arrangements?

I think everything I listen to and the artists I feel inspired by find a way into everything I do subconsciously, the way I play, the way I phrase my vocals, the way I write. I’m very much in admiration of and inspired by Lianne La Havas’ guitar playing and that definitely found a way into the guitar arrangements. I was quite obsessed with ‘Origin’ by Jordan Rakei when I was writing these songs and I love the way he phrases his vocals so that definitely shaped my stuff.

4. After the success of your debut EP, including playlist support and a sold-out UK tour, how has that momentum impacted your confidence and creative direction?

It was such a shock at the time because I really started releasing this project with absolutely no idea how it was going to be received, or if it would find people. It was my first time recording my music and releasing entirely independently and I didn't really have a clue what I was doing, but I think because I was just releasing songs that I loved, that came across to new listeners.It took a long time to process all of it and it came with a lot of imposter syndrome that I had to get over, but with my next project and new era I’m feeling much more assured and I feel like I know what I’m doing slightly more compared to when I started out.

In terms of my creative direction, I still have the same aim that I had with the first EP, which is making music that I love and that reflects me, and I don’t ever really want momentum to impact what I create.

5. With upcoming shows and a debut at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, how do you plan to translate the intimacy of these solo versions into a live setting?

I’ll be doing a mini intimate tour in Spring and it’ll be a special thing to play these songs stripped of their layers live. I’ve played a lot of solo gigs in the past year and because of how exposing it is, the vulnerability of performing on your own to a crowd really allows you and the audience to be in the songs. But they take on a completely new life when I play them live with the band, and to play with collaborators and musicians that I really respect