Singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman’s 5-song EP, “No One Is Anyone’s,” draws you in early with the soft-spoken and easy-tempoed `F.O.O.L”. Laying on a bed of strings Dallman takes us into his most intimate experiences and after finding himself heart-broken and led astray, he begs us to answer, “how do I fall out of love?”.

We’re so used to hearing artists croon for their deepest loves or spitefully unleash their anger when they’ve felt wronged, but rarely do we find ourselves on the bedroom floor feeling as vulnerable as Dallman describes just asking how we can stop feeling so terrible after putting ourselves out there and getting rejected (or worse) by someone we admired.

Lyrically, “F.O.O.L” is so simple it reads like a casual conversation between two friends making it easy to understand and relate to even if you haven’t found yourself quite in the same experience Dallman describes. It sets the tone well for the break-up story that follows where Dallman struggles to understand the cruelty he experienced.

In “No One Is Anyone’s,” we get our first real taste of Dallman’s frustration as he explores the idea that his former partner has a habit of playing with people emotionally and physically and they do it so casually they must enjoy it. Dallmans’ faint vocals over the uplifting airy production of “No One Is Anyone’s” had us drawing comparisons to RNB-Pop singer-songwriter Eamon who you might recall made waves in 2003 with “Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back)” and as we roll into “So It Would Be True” we have to believe that Christopher Dallman feels right at home in this same scorned lovers space.

What’s most captivating about his EP outside of the great storytelling is the simple electronic production that it rests on. You can almost imagine yourself sitting in your car after leaving your ex’s house, presumably for the last time, sitting on the side of any empty road ashing out your third cigarette as your mind wanders back into every conversation you’ve had with them and all the undoubtedly sure-fire signs that this relationship was doomed from the start. It’s somewhere within the middle of the EP that you realize you were too eager or too enthralled by the idea of this person that you chose to overlook all those early hints of impending devastation.

In “I Was Wrong” we’re able to pinpoint what’s most endearing about this collection of sorrow – Christopher’s vocals. They’re not pristine – far from it. They’re more spoken than they are sung and whether it’s by design or not, it has imperfections. But when your heart is so wound up from a lost love who cares about how well the words are sung? It’s cathartic just to hear someone else unleash their agony in song in this way and we find ourselves right there in the passenger seat next to Christopher throughout it.

The production on “Ghost Me” enters a more theatrical space that is alluded to in earlier productions on the record, but is felt much more freely as we come to the end of this 5-act play. If “No One Is Anyone’s” was Christopher’s outward lashing, then “Ghost Me” is the quiet introspection that comes after the fury.

Once again it’s the simplicity that makes it strangely charming, with lines like, “I was so scared, Leaned hard on you with trust, What a fucking bust” we’re reminded of how easily these experiences can make us feel like a lost child who just wants acceptance and love.

By the end of the record we’re compelled to want to give Christopher a pat on the back and tell him we get it and there’s other fish in the sea; cooler fish with brighter scales and less pinchy-fins.

If you’re on the hunt for something a little experimental, very pop with chillingly subdued vocals to vibe to as you think about all your near-misses and bad exes, look no further than “No One Is Anyone’s” by Christopher Dallman – available everywhere on March 6th, 2023.

Listen to the EP on Spotify:

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