Natalie Jane Hill – Soley
Dear Life Records – 29 October 2021
Van Morrison named one of his albums A Period of Transition, a phrase that could apply equally to Natalie Jane Hill’s second album, Soley. Following a move from the Blue Ridge Mountains back to Austin, Texas, in 2019, she began a period of self-discovery that led to the new album. In the process, she also found herself open to external creative input. Using an expanded sonic palette, the additional colours and textures provide a sonic shift making Soley an even more engaging proposition.
This album follows her last by just a year, and while second albums often have a rushed feeling to them, there’s nothing that feels hurried. It is a remarkably mature effort; in many ways, she exposes herself on a level that many of us would choose not to. “Plants and Flowers That Do Not Grow Here” offers a chance to look into her world, and the picture isn’t always as pretty as the music would have you believe. One of the albums most personal songs, she says, “It’s about trying to navigate through a time of addiction while in a disassociated state. I had spent some time trying to distinguish reality from illusion, and I wanted this song to capture the dreamlike quality I was lost in.”
But the song is less a dream than a reality, one that shows how easy it is to change what we see into something completely different. Amidst the plucked guitar, soft pedal steel and strings, she sings, “Because it’s funny but strange/ How easily we make a memory/ Seem better from far away.” That reality gets to the heart of Soley, the notion that in order to move on, people must do certain things on their own, regardless of how painful that may be.
“To Feel Alone” wafts in with a vibraphone and guitar while Hill begins listing all the things she is experiencing, focusing on the sounds she hears. It’s not so much a feeling of loneliness that haunts the song but an acknowledgement of the various sounds she experiences since no one else is around to fill the void. Fingerpicked and steel guitar take the foreground on “Soley” while Hill sings, “I think I am still learning slow/ How to be alright on my own/ It’ll take some time to feel at ease/ To trust in knowing I am right where I should be.” Clearly, this is a woman coming to grips with new realities.
Part of the wonder that is Soley is listening to Hill as she experiences the world from a new perspective, one where she is on her own. This comes through loud and clear on “Better Now.”
There’s a sense of melancholy to the song, looking back at what was and wondering what would have happened if things had gone differently. The guitar and electric piano shape the piece while lyrically she concludes, “Confide in me/ I won’t let you down/ Can’t you see/ I am better now.” The problem is that there is no way of knowing what would have been; there is only the present moment.
With Soley, Natalie Jane Hill has come out on the other side of her problems. She is a more mature woman, in a better place. That she has the bravery to bare it all for us is what makes this such a remarkably mature work.
Pre-Order Solely (29 Oct) via Bandcamp: https://nataliejanehill.bandcamp.com/album/solely
Photo Credit: Julian Neel