Kimbra A RECKONING

Album Reviews by Bryget Chrisfield

“So go on and save me/ I’m sinking into my feelings/ And I’m scared they’re gonna drown my confidence… I might look capable, but I’m not/ These days you’re all that I’ve got” – ever lost your identity in a doomed relationship? A Reckoning’s mesmeric, contemplative opening lead single Save Me – Kimbra’s first new song in three years – chronicles the collapse of a codependent long-term relationship. Kimbra’s vocal delivery – at times quivering like an uncertain internal voice struggling to be heard – is incredibly intimate; the listener feels like a trusted confidant. This song’s stunning arrangement also conjures Björk and the striking accompanying film clip, shot in Iceland, wanted to have something to say in my work that spoke to that shift we’re all experiencing.”

This two-time Grammy-winning artist started writing material for A Reckoning with co-producer Ryan Lott while touring with his experimental project Son Lux in 2018. Lott also features on the piano-driven album track Foolish Thinking, during which his tremulous vocal delivery oozes unchecked vulnerability.

A Reckoning is eclectic yet accessible, with each of the ten tracks utilising distinct sonic palettes: vibratory bass, ominous synth drone and startling dynamic shifts (Gun); funky-fresh Prince vibes for getting your groove on (La Type feat. Tommy Raps & Pink Siifu); and R&B leanings (Personal Space). GLT (feat. Erick The Architect) opens with an annoying Voicemail from a bloke who basically says that although the last few weeks “hanging out” with its intended recipient was “amazing”, he’s “not looking for anything too serious at the moment” [facepalm] – a timely reminder to have those difficult convos IRL, ‘cause Voicemails can be saved, shared and even repurposed.

A side-project of Nice Biscuit co-frontwoman Grace Cuell, Baby Cool drips with psychedelia and should ideally be experienced in the presence of a giant lava lamp.

We appropriately feel submerged in water as The Sea washes in, its keys intro conjuring a heart haze before gently jangling tamba flourishes and enchanting harp strums massage our eardrums. Cuell has deemed Lisa Kelly’s harp playing here “one of the most treasured parts of the record” and we wholeheartedly agree. This opening song and the album’s overall concept were inspired by a daily ritual Cuell implemented to improve her mental well-being while trying to manage some emotional turmoil: “I wrote myself a love letter on a piece of pink handmade paper and I read the letter to myself every morning,” she shared (“pink paper” is thrown into The Sea’s lyrics as well).

follows a narrative that reflects Kimbra’s reality as she “seeks to heal her relationship to self, to other women and finally to Mother Earth”, according to the presser.

Kimbra’s unapologetic, careening follow-up single Replay! is a minimal, industrial-electro banger with a syncopated beat that evokes a frantic, irregular heartbeat: “What’s the matter with my head? Stuck. In. Au-to-ma-tic” – choruses battle a barrage of intrusive thoughts.

“We’re in a reckoning around spirit, race, our earth and how people walk in the world with a sense of conscience,” Kimbra has said of creating her fourth album. “I

Closing, acquiescing piano ballad I Don’t Want To Fight – with its minimal arrangement incorporating sleigh bells and fluttering harp accents – is the perfect vehicle for showcasing Kimbra’s astounding vocal agility.

Simultaneously personal and universal, A Reckoning is career-defining work. Yet again we’re reminded Kimbra is so much more than somebody that we used to know.

Label: Inertia/ [PIAS]

Release date: January 27

Country Song is soul-achingly lovely – with plaintive slide guitar cradling Cuell’s lonely coos – and Daydream transports us to a tranquil Hawaiian paradise before erupting into a freak, stacks-on instrumental storm.

This record sounds like that section of the Christmas break where you literally forget what day it is – utter bliss. If the going gets tough, chuck Earthling On The Way To Self Love on; it’s bound to slow down your heart rate and make you feel more zen.

Label: Virgin Music

Release date: February 10

The millisecond your ears tune into the airy wonderment of Bumpy’s timbre, you’ll be hooked – it actually needs to be heard to be believed (see: the wow-factor vocal runs in her latest single, Hide & Seek!). This Naarm/Melbourne-based artist’s interpretive ability is also top tier; goosebump-inducing, in fact. Bumpy fronts the neo-soul outfit Squid Nebula as well and her self-produced debut solo EP is intoxicating – we’re talking Martina Topley-Bird-level artistry.

Opener Waiting Game is dynamically intricate and effortlessly classy in a Rebirth Of Cool compilation kinda way. Meandering guitar noodling opens the poignant, strings-enhanced Return Home:

“I feel those stories that we couldn’t speak of/ And I feel your power flowing through my blood/ But I don’t know my native tongue...” – Bumpy truly embodies her work while also demonstrating extraordinary melodic intelligence. Measured and understated at first, Leave It All Behind satisfyingly drip-feeds instrumental parts – one at a time – until we’re carried away by the synergetic fullband arrangement. Playful closer Hide & Seek ducks, weaves and soars – inspired, ever-shifting and jazz-infused.

The latest recipient of Music

Victoria’s Archie Roach Foundation Award For Emerging Talent, Bumpy sounds like liberation. Releasing her Morning Sun EP the day after Survival Day is a deliberate move from this proud Noongar woman.

Label: Astral People/ [PIAS]

Release date: January 27

What an enchanting vocalist! Gena Rose Bruce’s voice is capable of sounding dreamy (see: Future), gutsy (Destroy Myself’s choruses) and everything in between, as required, and her delicious timbre brings Abby Dobson (Leonardo’s Bride) to mind. The incomparable Bill Callahan (aka Smog) co-wrote two songs on Deep Is The Way: the subtly boppy Foolishly In Love and the title track, a duet, during which his soothing vocals float in and out of the arrangement like sweet temptation.

Bruce wrote her second album while processing the death of her partner’s mother, navigating Melbourne’s endless series of lockdowns and also questioning the viability of continuing to pursue a career in music: “I wanted to be a star/ But I’m tired of believing in a future so bright,” she sings in Future. Reading the book Revolutionary Road during this time, Bruce particularly identified with the character April Wheeler – an actor whose ambitions are thwarted by domesticity – and their shared vexations bled into album closer Captive, with its gently rolling undercurrent evoking Ravel’s Boléro (albeit on Valium).

Elsewhere, the chord progressions throughout the standout track Harsh Light lean into her Beatles fandom and during the Electric Light Orchestrainspired I’d Rather Be A Dreamer, Bruce has an epiphany that validates her creative pursuits: “I’d rather be dreaming than admit defeat.”

Label: Dot Dash/ Remote Control Release date: January 27

It’s typically impossible to get through listening to a Kingswood song without pulling at least one stank face while nodding appreciatively – talk about riffs of fury! However this album’s lead single Burning Holes is acoustic, emotional and reflective; a kind of campfire singalong moment (more s’mores, please!) during which Alex Laska and Fergus Linacre’s swoon-inducing vocal harmonies immediately remind us why Kingwood truly rule. Good Whiskey, our second taste of Home, features scintillating slide guitar and surprisingly romantic lyrics: “Your beauty and your grace will one day surely start a war.” God & Gun’s old-worldly lyrical charm (“On a night like this under the stars I reminisce...”) offsets its jaunty pace and cheeky instrumental tone. Startling examples of guitar virtuosity occur on the reg throughout this Melbourne four-piece’s fourth record (see: the call-and-response riff dialogue at the tail end of Gone Gone Baby Gone – what show-offs!).

Boasting an irresistible clap-along tempo, swaggering penultimate track Movin On is a hat tip to T. Rex’s Get It On, during which Linacre channels Bon Scott. Riches – the acoustic guitar-driven closer – takes it down a notch: Western feel, waltz rhythm, strings, Willie Nelsontinged vocal delivery – you wouldn’t pick it as a Kingswood song without prior knowledge. Home veers into previously uncharted, nuanced territory to showcase a showroom-condition, restored Kingswood.

Label: MGM Release date: 24 February