The London indie trio of singer/guitarist Soph Nathan, drummer Lauren Wilson and bassist Joshua Tyler’s new LP has a beautiful warmth of musicality and optimistic honesty in lyric, borne from a theme of celebrating of determination against difficulty, and themes spanning sexuality, relationships, community, and illness. Recorded at Rockfield Studios is comes with the added production pedigree of John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse) and Fern Ford (The Big Moon, Prima Queen), there’s a voluminous guitar, vocal and overall sound, and a gentle, unhurried pace. First single, Relief gives of a feeling of a long-awaited exhale – the feeling of finally emerging from a long and lonely period of uncertainty and self-doubt, as does opening track It’ll Be Fine, embellished with delicate violin. The title track is perhaps the most gorgeous, with a delightfully catchy, though gentle chorus, while as counterbalance, Something About Being A Woman has a simmering anger and darkness, in which Soph Nathan turns thoughts around a hurtful, thoughtless remark from an acquaintance, about whether it was “just bad timing” and, at worst, brazen misogyny. Nuance is Nathan’s forte, and emotion builds to a climax when her suppressed rage expresses and explodes, particularly to towards the end of this song when guitars snarl and cymbals crash. A fabulously powerful example among several songs in this wonderfully controlled LP of mature songwriting and musical arrangement. Out on Bella Union.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: