Spectreview: Natalie Jane Hill – Solely

Released: October 29, 2021

Folk
(Singer-songwriter)
(Acoustic)

-PURPLE-

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“Could it be now that I am on the right road?

Even if I don’t know where it goes?

I used to think the directionless in me

Was the same thing as being free”

On Solely, Natalie Jane Hill does what decades of fingerpicking, soothe-saying folk musicians have done before her, and she does it very, very well. Her voice, pillowy and plaintive, makes an ideal match with the tambour of her guitar, which is left largely adorned save for a sweeping set of strings here, a piano flourish or harpsichord glissando there. The consistent accompaniment is a bold choice considering much of the record finds Hill waxing lyrical about solitude, specifically the kind that leaves behind a phantom pain.

That’s evident from the moment a song called “Euphoria” sees Hill openly pining for it, her guitar speeding along anxiously as if in withdrawal. That same sense of tempo appears on “Orb Weaver,” where Hill lingers in a sweet memory as her hand runs over frets finding chords to pluck like a spider on amphetamines. Memory is but one common comfort colored here through the time-old technique of nature-based metaphor: the scent of flowers for instance (or the sight of them, on the gentle “Little Teeth”), or the sway of a tree (the Nick Drake-like “If I Were a Willow”), or the brisk flow of a creek. On guitar, Hill gamely work these images into reality, finding some small companionship in their presences. 

Solely is at its most compelling when that sense of solitude in Hill’s lyrics matches closest to what’s playing behind it. “To Feel Alone” pairs a sinusoidal arpeggiation with resonant vibraphone as she runs through the small details of her quarters with an intriguing ambiguity. Her voice swoops low on the stark “Pretty View,” one of the only tracks here that’s just guitar and vocals. And on “Solely” she refocuses from what’s missing to what’s there, contemplating the growth that can come from being by yourself. Though Solely aches with the pain of loss, such touches reframe that pain as a necessary process, like the sting of a healing wound.

Recommended for putting your keys down on the counter.