Rachel Chinouriri – ‘Little House’ EP review: a satisfying signpost of what might come next

1 April, 2025

Rachel Chinouriri little house ep review

Rachel Chinouriri is having a moment. The last few months have seen her collect two BRITs nominations, sell out a huge, joyous hometown show at London’s Kentish Town Forum, and join Sabrina Carpenter on the UK and European leg of her ‘Short n’ Sweet’ arena tour. But gloriously giddy things aren’t just reserved for work and are spilling over into the British indie star’s personal life, too.

READ MORE: Rachel Chinouriri – ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’ review: pure indie-pop escapism

Recently, the 26-year-old has found love. By all accounts, it’s not just your average relationship you plod through but don’t see lasting, but the kind that makes you feel safe, secure and like the world might actually be alright sometimes. That’s the sense you get from comments Chinouriri has made about her new partner (“He’s definitely fixed a broken-hearted girl and I’ve blossomed into a woman,” she explains in a new press statement) and the fizzing euphoria in her recent single, ‘Can We Talk About Isaac?’.

It’s that song that leads her new EP, ‘Little House’, making it abundantly clear the star is in a very different place to that of her acclaimed 2024 debut album, ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’. That record processed some of the trauma its creator had experienced in her young life and, although it was propelled by an undercurrent of hope, dwelled on darker times. Just under a year on from its release, life is looking much brighter.

That’s the feeling captured in the aforementioned ‘Can We Talk About Isaac?’ – the kind of sunny indie-pop anthem that Chinouriri seemingly effortlessly excels at – but also across the record. “Kissing me under the indigo / I begged for the morning sun not to rise / Oh, what a beautiful starry night,” she sighs contentedly on the gentle strums of ‘Indigo’. ‘23:42’ is similarly in a daze, her depicting loved-up scenes straight out of Hollywood over whirring, squeaky guitars: “Got me dancing in the street in my Travolta fantasy that comes to life.”

Only ‘Judas’ hints at any kind of lingering strife. Its title suggests betrayal in the air, which Chinouriri soon confirms: “Five months in, I kiss your head and watch you sleeping / What is this betrayal? / Warming up to you, I tell you all my secrets / It was cold in hell.” It doesn’t seem like it’s quite enough to burst her bubble of romance, though, as she later pleads: “I’m in love with you / Say you love me too / Until the end.”

‘Little House’ serves as a satisfying stopgap before her eventual second album, but also holds potential clues as to where she might head next sonically. Between the soft acoustic songs and bubbly, bouncy tunes, ‘Indigo’ takes a subtly experimental approach, building from tender, stripped-back guitar to a crisp crescendo of cooing layered backing vocals and crunching electronic beats. The EP is also glowing proof that, whether happy or sad, Rachel Chinouriri has more than enough star power for this moment to go on, and on, and on.