If Emily Lubitz’s wondrous pipes sound familiar, that’ll be because she’s the lead singer/guitarist of critically acclaimed indie-folk outfit Tinpan Orange. Begin Again is her debut solo outing.
A chime – or perhaps the toll of the Doomsday Clock given this is Lubitz’s “pandemic song” – adds gravitas to the opening title track. During the endearing Foolish Kids, Lubitz’s beseeching vocals lure us into a dream sequence: young love/infatuation set against the backdrop of “First Communion and hidden smokes”. Also gotta love the use of brass and sleigh bells during the mid-song breakdown – what the song wants, the song shall have.
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“But it was different when we were younger/ We didn’t know it would last this long/ We were drunk and full of bluster/ Now we got these blue-eyed sons” – Like I Do is an enduring-love song, with cascading vocal lines during verses serving plaintive, Love Will Tear Us Apart vibes. There’s a dramatic tonal shift from verse to chorus in ‘What’s She Got’ (“… that I don’t got?”), as a tsunami of envy drowns-out logic. Then the gently strummed closer ‘Sinking Ship’ – featuring distant, atmospheric, howling-wind sounds – fades into the horizon.
What is it about Lubitz’s voice that makes it so incredibly captivating? Her timbre is otherworldly; hopeful and vulnerable, yet potent – if it were a filter, it would be sepia-toned.
Label: Independent
Release date: 4 November
