Breakwater Releases 2025 EP, Undertow

The group’s latest release, featuring four tracks, is now available on all major music platforms.

Undertow features two Billie Eilish covers – “No Time to Die” and “The Greatest” – along with “ICU” by Phoebe Bridgers, and “Reckless Driving” by Lizzy McAlpine featuring Ben Kessler.

Undertow features 16 student vocalists: Alex Baker ’26, Casey Boyle ’27, Annie Campion ’26, Cole Christensen ’26, Emilia Ebel ’27, Matt Fisher ’25, Paige Horton ’27, Olivia Jishi ’26, Finley Olson ’28, Brett Paquin ’27, Paisley Pentecost ’25, Giselle Randall ’27, Caden Schnabel ’26, Ella Smith ’27, Fletcher Warner ’26, and Reese Wicker ’26. Olivia Jishi, Ella Smith, Paisley Pentecost, Fletcher Warner, and Annie Campion are the soloists on the 2025 release.

Undertow was recorded at Severn School over Memorial Day weekend. The vocalists put hours of work into recording the tracks over those four days. While the majority of these recording sessions are individual, the singers come together at the end for an “overdubs” session to add finishing touches to each track. This means bulking up harmonies and adding extra flourishes that weren’t in the written arrangements.

Song selection is a group effort and inspires spirited debate, but generally, the top picks emerge from the students’ favorites from performances during the school year. The trick, according to Breakwater co-director Kirsten Brandler, is to find the songs that fit together the best. This is the first EP that includes four songs.

“We also have to consider the arrangements, and which ones translate best to recorded form,” said Brandler, noting that some songs are really fun to perform live but don’t resonate the same way as a recording. “We want to go with the more intricate arrangements, highlighting the complexities that are harder to hear when the piece is performed live.” In this way, the listener hears something new every time a song is played.

This year, Breakwater reached beyond the group for the cover art, ultimately partnering with Cooper Morton ’26 to design the album cover.

Breakwater worked with Jill Clark Productions to record, edit, and mix the album. Additional editing was done by Nick Lyons. Eric Scholz Productions mastered the final EP. Undertow was produced by Jill Clark, and Breakwater co-directors, Kirsten Brandler and Rob Redei, with arrangements by Rob Redei.

Previously released EPs by Breakwater include Clarity (2022), Breathe (2023), and Wilted (2024). Clarity was nominated for a CARA(Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards) Award for Best Scholastic Debut Album in 2022 – a category that includes collegiate groups as well as high school. Clarity was the runner-up. The vocal group’s follow-up album,Breathe, earned 3 CARA nominations and one track – “Alive” – was selected for inclusion on the 2024 Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA) compilation album. The accolades continued with Wilted, as “Daylight” was selected for BOHSA 2025, the entire EP was nominated for a CARA for Best Alternative/Indie Album or EP, and Fletcher Warner ’26 was nominated for a CARA for Best High School Arrangement for his arrangement of “Wonder” and was selected as the Runner-Up.