Manchester singer-songwriter and pianist Sara Leanne built her name performing internationally, including a stint as Christine McVie with Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, endorsed by Mick Fleetwood herself. Her debut EP ‘Uprooted’, out now, turns that same emotional honesty toward her own writing for the first time, and the result is a four-track collection that moves through a year of significant change across family, love, friendship and music.

Lead single ‘Song From Your Daughter’ sets the emotional centre of the record. Written in the wake of her father’s death and produced with engineer Matt Butler, whose credits include Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd, the track shares its artwork with the man it was written for, Sara’s dad Pete Edwards. From there the EP spreads out stylistically without losing its throughline. ‘Take Me As I Am’ is the most stripped-back moment, a 1970s-style piano ballad built from heartbreak and the search for something steadier afterwards. ‘Loved Into Something New’ shifts into blues-rock and soft-rock territory as a thank you to the friends who helped her through a difficult stretch, while closer ‘Breathe’ settles into folkier, more atmospheric ground, with Andrew Jones on piano and Alex Hillman on guitar filling out the space around her voice.

Sara has said she used to put melody ahead of lyrics in her writing, but on ‘Uprooted’ the words came without a fight, because she stopped second-guessing how they would be received. That ease is audible throughout. Listeners drawn to Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, Eva Cassidy or Sarah Jarosz will find plenty to hold onto here.

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