Album: BREACH
Artist: Fenne Lily
Genre: #alternative #indie
Sub-Genres: #indiefolk
Label: Dead Oceans
Description: BREACH, released September 18, 2020, is an ode to and celebration of the lows of life and their inevitability. Throughout the album, the songs create a narrative depicting different points along various paths of recovery and self-growth from the lows. Lily isn’t shy about sharing her lows; the album is full of her experiences with bad relationships, anxiety, and feeling lonely. Although these details are more specific to her, the themes and general feelings associated with these lows are universal and any listener can relate to the lyrics.
Lily is also very precisely creative with lyrics. She often uses word combinations and turns of phrases to generate exact meanings for the listener. The second track on the album is “Alapathy” – a combination of apathy and allopathic referencing Lily’s personal experience with mental health. Then, in “Elliot” she uses the ironic phrase “remember to forget” when talking to the subject.
Fate is referenced throughout the album almost as a “character” that keeps appearing in different situations in Lily’s life. In “Elliot”, two people’s actions are described using “always gonna” - a description that seems to accept inevitability. Then, in “Blood Moon”, Lily mentions Fortune watching her, almost as if fate is entertained by the path it made for Lily. Worry is often interwoven with fate, like in “Someone Else’s Trees” where Lily expresses fear of what the future holds rather than death.
Although the album describes some moments in life that involve lots of suffering and pain, Lily also explicitly expresses pride in herself for getting through those tough times. In “Berlin”, Lily describes learning to be alone and speaks to her past self, knowing now it turned out fine. “I, Neitzche” and “I Used To Hate My Body But Now I Just Hate You” both depict the ends of two toxic relationships and Lily expresses pride for ending them and getting to where she is now.
All twelve tracks are clearly united stylistically, but each has a unique feature or two to differentiate one track from another. The album opens in a more melancholic way before a more upbeat and groovier second track and oscillates between the two throughout the rest of the album. The unity created by the overall stylistic continuity results in a connectedness, subtly emphasizing the growth theme.
My personal favorites from the album are “Alapathy”, “I, Neizche” and “I Used To Hate My Body But Now I Just Hate You”, but all the tracks are wonderful.
Sounds Like:
Liza Anne
Rosie Carney
isaac gracie
Recommended Tracks:
Alapathy
I, Neizche
I Used To Hate My Body But Now I Just Hate You
Reviewer’s Name: Haley Williams
Date of Review: 5 October 2020