★★★★☆
Wear It Wellis the long-awaited second release from Australian folk artist Emily Ulman.
It’s a beautifully executed sequence of modern storytelling, although the themes of each of its rhythmic parables are timeless.
Case in point: the title track, which pairs Ulman’s effeminate and almost adolescent voice with a simple guitar strum. The song’s power lies in its muted emotion, as Ulman aches from a love never known due to an unspoken catastrophe: “Some things I’ll never tell / Some things you can never tell / I wear it well”.
Beyond the minimalism of the title track, Wear It Well is littered with accessible and upbeat songs like the single ‘Scratches’, where Ulman’s vocals harmonise with strings. A waltzy rhythm brings the song to a chirpy close, although the lyrics are still a bit dark.
‘Hurricane’ recalls the relaxed swagger that made The Waifs the darlings of the adult contemporary scene in the mid-’00s. However, this comparison may be a case of cultural pareidolia, triggered by a strong Australian female voice singing over uplifting acoustic folk.
Regardless, this is a work of high-quality music and storytelling, with each song proudly communicated in an Australian voice.
Emily Ulman’sWear It Wellis released independently.
