Last year, thousands of young people simultaneously raised their voices in protest. Newspapers were splattered with images of students choked with anger, and many journalistic eyebrows were raised, contemplating that perhaps the youth of today could speak, and they could speak passionately. Listening to her new EP today, I feel certain that Faith Taylor could have convinced them of that a long time ago.

I’ve seen Faith play against a backdrop of pounding, Gaga-esque jingles without a microphone and captivate the crowd regardless. Her new release, Reasons to be Fearful, is a collection of four lovingly-crafted, deeply intimate folk songs. She ranges from painful love affairs to fervent rallying cries with disarming earnestness. For the nervously disposed, her honesty may be unsettling, but that is exactly what this EP is about: stories, melodies, and chucking the excess away.

Her stand-out track, ‘The Mirror’, holds a magnifying glass up against a pair of introspective lovers, asking, “How long can we stay standing looking in the mirror?” Taylor scrutinises her relationship in full view, telling her lover, “They’re watching us”. The lyric is an accurate description of the feeling I get whilst listening to her intimate account: mesmerized, and just a little bit guilty.

The rapid finger-picking and gentle country riffs throughout the EP pay tribute to American folk-legend Ani Difranco, an artist who appears to be a major influence for Taylor. In the gutsy ‘Hold Open Doors’, she constructs a cutting indictment of apathy, spitting, “It might mean nothing to you, but it means some shit to my crew”. The track wouldn’t seem out of place amongst the most powerful of Difranco’s political songs, stirring musical manifestos such as ‘Make them Apologise’ and ‘Willing to Fight’.

I’m wary of pinning Taylor down in any ‘guitar-wielding-woman’ comparisons, however. Her music is - and has always been - eclectic, ranging from an ironic cover of Akon and Eminem’s ‘Smack That’ to songs like ‘Fire’, in which she tenderly tells a loved one, “I miss you, sweetheart, I miss your fire”. Her new release is a blend of sugar-sweet vocals, razor-sharp passion and, above all, a frightening level of intimacy. If you’re squeamish, look away now. If not, I strongly recommend you listen.