Alix Page’s “Old News” EP: More Old Than New

It was inevitable that Phoebe Bridgers would one day become GenZ’s Joni Mitchell, inspiring honest young female singer-songwriters top off their guitar-driven songs and airy, droll vocals with pocket-piano synths and rising strings.

Turns out, that day is already here.

Today, 20 year-old Orange County native Alix Page independently releases her first EP, Old News.

The four songs on the EP from the USC sophomore encapsulate turning a conversation over in your mind, in retrospect realizing what you actually wanted to say in that moment. “Did you feel anything? / Separate your head and heart, I’m jealous,” she says of an old relationship on “True + Honest.” 

Page addresses exes on every song, but in the context of addressing past experiences so she can let go and move on. On “25,” she echoes Lucy Dacus’ “in five years I hope the songs feel like covers” “Night Shift” lyric by envisioning herself bumping into an ex at a show when she’s 25 and not calling them back.

Page’s lyrics are thoughtful, if a bit precocious, but as a young songwriter, she wears her influences on her sleeve. If the EP’s production weren’t enough of a Phoebe Bridgers quote (especially the second half of the song “Radiohead”), Page name-checks a Bridgers song on her track “June Gloom”: “I sat down / Made a list of all the things I care about / Think I mentioned “Scott Street” and Springsteen / And I wrote your name twice.”

Page’s close imitation of Bridgers isn’t necessarily a bad thing; as TV writer Caitie Delaney once tweeted: “All of Lord Huron’s songs sound the same but luckily I love that song.”

All of Alix Page’s songs sound a lot like Phoebe Bridgers…but luckily I love that song.

Fans of Bridgers, Lizzie McAlpine, Jensen McRae, or other indie singer-songwriters might want to keep an eye on Alix Page. Her songs show glimmers of individuality she will hopefully develop as her songwriting matures: the digital processing on her voice at the end of “True + Honest,” her big rock builds, and her lyrical ideas, but it’s hard to separate Old News from the idols Page is emulating. For now…luckily, I love that song.

Alix Page will be supporting Gracie Abrams on tour this February and March.