Chronicling the varied, challenging paths throughout life, The Narrows is the sophomore album from Australian singer-songwriter Lydia Fairhall. Tracks like “Heavy Is The Ocean” and “Higher” weave lush synth textures and dreamy choral harmonies, while “Bloom” marvels in its interweaving strings. The result is an album that explores emotive, moving themes through dynamic instrumentation and poetic perspectives.

“Heavy Is The Ocean” opens the album with folk-set introspection. “Everything is still up for grabs, for you,” Fairhall’s voice resonates, bolstered by spaciously dreamy backing harmonic layers. A spacey synth serenity also compels in the background, sounding like a lovely cross of Marissa Nadler and Weyes Blood. Coming next, “Higher” delights in its expanded arsenal, infusing trickling electric guitar, lush synth arpeggios, and a steady rhythm section. A title-referencing melodic refrain sends chills, as does a two-minute turn that dazzles through its infusion of soulful singing layers and a more prominent synth emphasis.

Another standout track, “Bloom” uses the metaphor of a flower; particularly, its petals falling and a sense of incoming deterioration, alongside ruminations like “her love was not enough to keep him safe from harm.” The subsequent addition of strings is gorgeously interwoven, with visceral imagery of lingering heartache and glimpses of sensory familiarity bolstering the post-relationship perspectives. Full of quality songwriting, Lydia Fairhall’s The Narrows stirs in its dynamic instrumentation and poetic depictions of themes spanning from love and freedom to death.

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“Bloom” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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