With Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1, Lauren Alex Hooper delivers a deeply personal and beautifully crafted EP that brings something rare and vital to the alt-pop landscape: a raw, unflinching portrayal of life as an autistic woman. Across five emotionally resonant tracks, Hooper unpacks the internal conflicts, misunderstood realities, and unexpected joys of neurodivergent experience — and she does so with an artistry that’s both poetic and piercing.
The opening track, “Armour,” sets the tone with haunting clarity. Its sparse instrumentation allows the lyrics to breathe, telling the story of masking — the exhausting, often invisible labor of hiding one’s autistic traits to fit in. Hooper’s voice trembles with vulnerability, revealing the cost of trying to feel “acceptable” in a neurotypical world. It’s not just a song — it’s a quiet revolution.
“Eye To Eye” and “Overexposed” dive deeper into the sensory and emotional fabric of autism. The former turns the act of eye contact into a metaphor for trust and exposure, while the latter pulses with a restless intensity, capturing the feeling of being bombarded by too much input — sound, light, emotion — all at once. Hooper doesn’t just describe sensory overload; she transmits it, using her music as both medium and message.
Then comes “The Loneliest Whale,” perhaps the most heart-wrenching track of the EP. Inspired by the real-life story of a whale whose call is unheard by others, it becomes a graceful metaphor for the experience of feeling unseen and misread. Yet in the loneliness, Hooper also plants a seed of hope: the idea that shared understanding can bloom from shared struggle. That hope takes full form in the closer, “Last One Standing,” a triumphant ode to autistic passion and resilience, written from the perspective of a beloved fictional character who has been with her for years.
On the release, Lauren Alex Hooper shares, “Growing up, I couldn’t find any music that I related to and it wasn’t until I was diagnosed as autistic – among other things – that I realised why: nobody was writing about autistic experiences. So I decided that that was what I needed to do: for those going through experiences similar to my own, for my younger self, and for my current self. And it became clear very quickly that this project is only the beginning of this journey.”
This is not just a strong EP — it’s an essential one. Hooper has taken her truth and transformed it into something artful, moving, and affirming. Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1 doesn’t ask to be understood; it offers understanding. And in doing so, it becomes a lifeline — not just for autistic listeners, but for anyone who’s ever felt too much or not enough in a world that demands both and neither.
