Western Australian artist Codee-Lee last released an EP in 2015. She’s won ten WA country music awards and 2 WAM Regional song of the year awards, been a finalist in the Telstra Road to Tamworth competition and a Top 100 contestant on The Voice. After Keith Urban gave her some advice she has since spent time in the United States writing and performing, learning from other people in the music business.
Codee-Lee has now returned with the five-track EP Who I Am and if the purpose of her time away was to make her a more confident artist with a clear sense of her sound and how she can best use it, it was been fulfilled in spades. The songs on Who I Am are strong and catchy and rich, and that starts with Codee-Lee’s voice, which is warm and gutsy with overtones of sass. That voice lends authenticity to the stories she tells in these songs, of a woman who knows who she is and what she wants, who is prepared to take risks and commit to making the best of her life. The title track is the opener, and it’s her statement of purpose, so that we know that what comes next is being told to us in the content of that. And what comes next are songs of love and loss and country, of happiness, sadness and reflection.
The only disappointing thing about this EP is that there are only five tracks on it. That’s because Codee-Lee made sure that all five are winners, which means the natural reaction is to want more. As she’s been away for three years, writing songs in that time, we can only hope that more will come soon, and continue her trajectory as an emerging country star.
Who I Am is out now.
