Lucy Rose is not mainstream. She doesn't rely on commercial record deals to the point that she essentially crowd-sourced her recent tour of Latin America, playing for fans for free as long as they hosted her. It was an experience that spawned this album, documented most clearly in “Find Myself”, in which the 28-year-old sings "'Cause you helped me find myself… Find myself within your old dreams".
For Something's Coming, she has joined forces with Communion, an independent label with a knack for digging gems, often those which refuse to conform, out of the industry – and it's a match made in heaven. The tracks are less poppy than Lucy's previous albums. “Moirai” is a folk storysong about the Greek god in charge of peoples' fates. There’s echoes of Martha Wainwright’s melancholy in "Love Song”, where she sings "it was summer and the rain was at bay, you came like the storm that washed me away". It’s thoughtful, contemplative. Perfect festival fodder for those moments when the shadows are long (Lucy’s off to Latitude and Bestival later this season).
“Second Chance” is soul-searching and whimsically poetic, about the space between an Instagram moment and learning to love yourself. “Floral Dresses” and “No Good At All” are about family. They’re all simple in structure, full of those signature long, reverberating notes.
Beneath the veneer of cool riffs and hipster chic, there are songs that shift between being so moving I'm almost bought to tears – “Is This Called Home” is about the refugee crisis – and songs with impressive collaborators like The Staves, or Elena Tonra of Daughter, who co-sings “Soak It Up”, with silken, whispery harmonies and gentle drum brushes. Whether it's the spirit of travel, or a knack for what music means to different people, there is something more at play here than your average acoustic act on the festival circuit.
