Review: Siobhan Cotchin’s ‘When The Curtains Close’

Siobhan Cotchin 
When The Curtains Close 
Tone City Records

Siobhan Cotchin’s first single of 2023 When The Curtains Close offers an intimate, personal and heartfelt listen. Having won three WAM awards in 2022 and after recently performing at Laneway Festival, Cotchin’s meteoric success is continuing well into the new year.

The track, released Friday, February 10, features Cotchin’s delicate vocals juxtaposed against a slow guitar melody. In a musical style reminiscent of Phoebe Bridges’ Stranger in the Alps, Siobhan’s lyrics promote a sense of their vulnerability, inviting the listener into a monologue of self-reflection, contemplation and emotion.

Speaking in reference to the song, Siobhan stated: “When The Curtains Close is about not being able to recognise someone you love after their actions show their true colours. It’s about feeling betrayed, thinking you should’ve seen the signs earlier but loving someone so much that you don’t want anything to jeopardise it.”

“Where do you go when the curtains close?” Siobhan reflects rhetorically, “I saw all the warning signs and I think that I’ve made up my mind, I’m not gonna be on your side.” With honest, visceral lyricism, Siobhan transports listeners through the embers of a relationship after the realisation someone is not who you wanted and hoped they would be.

“This song was one that basically wrote itself,” Cotchin said. “I was going through a lot at the time, dealing with realisations about someone I was close with.” When The Curtains Close provides listeners with a relatable insight into Cotchin’s life, and leaves them very much in their feelings.

BENEDICT SHIRLEY