“Love isn't easy – it’s advanced and undefined,” sings Melbourne’s Gena Rose Bruce on her second album, Deep is the Method. The impossibility and inexorability of affection in all its guises is central to her songwriting – and whereas it’s well-worn territory, her wry, observational type makes it really feel new. “Am I simply pouring heart-shaped espresso for somebody who wished a gin?” she wonders on lead single Foolishly in Love. The style, bitter and stunning, lingers.
I’ve lengthy referred to as Bruce Australia’s reply to Angel Olsen, and the comparability holds true on this considerate report. Each are purveyors of a sure form of melancholic, country-tinged mix of indie and different music, underpinned by emotional vulnerability and intelligence. It may be arduous to chop by means of the noise of an ever-growing cohort of musicians on this vein, however Bruce’s sharp, trustworthy songwriting stands out by pushing past style conventions and largely avoiding cliche. The album opens with Future, on which she alternates between whispering the lyrics and, generally moments later, utilizing the very best a part of her versatile register. These vocal acrobatics, pulled off effortlessly, are a part of what makes her music so compelling.
Like Bruce’s underrated 2019 debut report, Can’t Make You Love Me, there are clear influences right here: grunge on the guitar-driven Destroy Myself, with vocals each managed and reckless as she describes a want for oblivion; Americana on the twangy I’d Quite Be a Dreamer, house to the tongue-in-cheek lyric, “I’m too stylish to be mainstream.” However there are some extra esoteric references too: Foolishly in Love and Distress and Misfortune flirt subtly with digital and disco components, the latter virtually Minoguian in small however memorable flashes.
On this album, Bruce collaborates with Invoice Callahan – the prolific stoic American singer-songwriter who has launched music underneath his personal identify and as Smog. The partnership, carried out solely on-line (the 2 have by no means met in particular person), is unlikely however good. Callahan co-wrote Foolishly in Love, and duets with Bruce on the title observe. Their voices – his typical matter-of-fact, virtually droll supply; hers extra delicate – are good counterparts in call-and-response and, often, in unison. Piano, guitar and, ultimately, mild electronics full the image. It’s a beautiful observe that highlights each artists’ strengths, and lyrically describes the significance of connection to remain afloat in troublesome occasions. There’s particular chemistry between the 2, and the addition of a second voice provides a brand new depth to Bruce’s music.
There are evolutions elsewhere, too, with extra emotional complexity than the extra easy songs on Can’t Make You Love Me, which targeted closely on craving. Bruce’s lyricism has deepened – the sonically lovely Love might be the closest to trite she comes, sounding like a riff on the well-known Corinthians verse that you just’ve positively heard at a marriage. For probably the most half, although, the interior turmoil right here is extra advanced, as on the beautiful, swirling I’m Not Made to Love Solely You. Towards a glittering mix of piano and stuttering synths, which provides technique to a single-line guitar, Bruce contemplates the realities of long-term love, and the way this devotion can push towards a eager for the joy of one thing new. “The battle between head and coronary heart, the thriller of want / like moonlight attempting to grasp the thriller of the night time,” she sings. It’s thought-provoking stuff, delivered with the curious soul of a poet.
That is the form of sluggish, reflective report that’s greatest loved in the identical temper. It charts most of the anxieties which have change into half and parcel of each day residing in a post-Covid world, and Bruce is frank within the methods through which these ideas can take a toll. However songs may save us all: as she sings on Distress and Misfortune, “I’ve simply gotta personal my scenario” – then, a second later, “I’m simply comfortable to be feeling.”
Deep is the Method by Gena Rose Bruce is out now
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