Natalie Angiuli releases EP on Valentine’s Day


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With love and the smell of roses and chocolates in the air, Natalie Angiuli released her EP, New Hands, on Valentine’s Day.

The four tracks on the EP, available on iTunes, were recorded at several studios in Los Angeles.

All of the vocals were recorded in a bedroom, according to Angiuli. Her producer, Michael Eisenstein, had a few friends with home studios in their backyards.

She said she is honored to have the opportunity to have her EP release show at The Hotel Café on March 29.

The songs on New Hands are catchy pop tunes that can easily become stuck in a person’s head.

A prime example is “Vegas (Think About Me),” because of the repetition found in the chorus.

Angiuli is a senior theatre major at USC, but is also working on a minor in songwriting. She said her writing process usually starts with jotting down a few words or musical ideas in her journal.

Her songwriting process was inspired by the artist Michelangelo, who used to chip away at marble to create the sculptures he believed already existed.

“The songs are there, and it’s my job to chip away at all the extra stuff,” she said.

The music and lyrics have simple structures and are typically standard pop songs. One has the essence of the 1950s though.

“Bel Air Anthem” is very similar to a doo-wop ballad. The lines “our love is a crime” and “they told us not to do it, but we did it anyway” is reminiscent of old crooner songs.

The title track, “New Hands,” turns out to be less vintage and more space-age. Not due to it having heavy synthesizer or other eccentric sounds, but because of an outer space dream Angiuli had that inspired the song and its name.

In her dream, two words, “new hands,” were repeated over and over so she jotted them down after waking up and the song unfolded from there.

“Wake You Up,” the last song on the EP, is more straightforward with a specific message.

“It deals with small bursts of confidence in the midst of a troublesome situation…where you know that you can win if you keep your head on straight and try hard enough,” she said.

Currently, Angiuli is continuing to write new songs, collaborating with other USC artists and exploring the world of film scoring.