After an acclaimed debut, many artists flounder when it comes to a follow up. However, Melody Pool again proves to be one of the most accomplished Australian singer/songwriters to emerge in recent years.
The title track encapsulates chunky, country blues at its finest. Singing of broken hearts, the album opener reveals an instant sense of vulnerability. Old Enough comes next, a beautiful violin-assisted ballad. With lines like, “Starve me and carve me into all of your sculptures”, the song bleeds passive pain, seeming to bemoan the loss of real romance in a relationship.
Finger-plucking its way into listeners’ hearts, Southern Nightshade is a sombre solution for a sorrowful soul. Pool breathes out longing lyrics, as if weeping with every word. The subject of Richard clearly made an impression on Pool, as she recounts a strained love affair with a drawn-out deep tone. Hitting high notes in the heat of it all, the singer’s vocal range is truly remarkable.
Picking up the tempo, Romantic Things tells the tale of two people’s contorting lives alongside vivacious violin arrangements and mood-shifting vocal melodies. How Long brings a darker side to the disc, whereas Love, She Loves is a surreal love song to the very end. The contrast between the two tracks reminds listeners of Pool’s unbelievably diverse composition style. Soon, the lines “Come rip the skin off my bones / My weary heart is sick of being alone”, sees the beginning of Mariachi Wind, a track that simultaneously touches on desire, devotion and devastation.
Deep Dark Savage Heart is a raw representation of personal experience and emotional pressures. But Pool says farewell with Better Days, offering a glimpse of hope before closing up the heart-wrenching record.
BY PHOEBE ROBERTSON
