Angie: Free Agent

While the journey is far from over, the path ahead seems far less muddy. Earnest songwriting can be fraught with challenges, but some artists execute it with total authenticity.

Opener ‘Breathing In Blue’ is bare-bones lo-fi pop, fuelled by piano. ‘Crocodile Tears’ is swaddled in reverb with a heavily overdriven guitar sound; the production not dissimilar to Ty Segall’s early output. ‘Down For The Count’ is a pulse-raising hedonistic thumper, while ‘A Man Asleep’ holds its head high for an instrumental piece, dabbling in experimental noise. ‘Out Of Age’ turns the psych rock up a few notches – howling guitar leads battle with Angie’s vocals for a spot in the limelight, and it’s a fair fight. The lyric “We’re living, we’re breathing, we’re seething” feels like a call-to-arms, and it’s a suitable thrasher of a song. Free Agent rises and falls in the all right places; nothing rattles your bones offensively. The depressive downswings meld slowly but surely into the manic upswings.

Angie has produced an emotionally driven piece of work that is still heavily focused on musicality.