Music Critic Sarah Mawson describes the new EP from Tomberlin, Projections, as a brilliant sophomore release that strongly explores themes of nostalgia and yearning
Tomberlin made her name in 2018 with her debut album At Weddings, a series of crushing songs released with Saddle Creek that balanced on the tightrope of bittersweetness, never tipping too far over either side. The project was deeply introspective, the mark of someone working through the struggle and only just emerging from the other side. Two years later, her most recent work, an EP called Projections, has kept all of the introspection but changed into some happier instrumentation. This makes for not only a brilliant sophomore release, but a fantastic accompaniment for these months still navigating whether to be hot or cold, light or dark. Two years later, her most recent work, an EP called Projections, has kept all of the introspection but changed into some happier instrumentation
From the opening lines, ‘Did I run into your arms?’ on the opener, ‘Hours,’ lifted by guitar, some of the strongest themes of the album are presented: nostalgia, yearning and thinking too much about the meanings of things. All the hallmarks of a 20-something Indie musician who has had six odd months to re-live the past and look for the future. These continue on the second track ‘Wasted,’ which was the first single released from the album and is about the singer having a crush on an alcoholic, evident in the line ‘how come you only say I’m cute when you’re wasted?’ The song also sounds like something of a look into the vulnerability that comes with putting such personal events into songs, especially when those songs are then released into the world as Tomberlin sings ‘make sure it’s not half bad / do you think this song’s sad? / you made me smile / but could you spell it out for me?’
The strongest undercurrent running throughout the entire EP is a feeling of yearning; for others, for yourself, for belonging. This yearning comes through fantastically in ‘Sin’: part love song, part queer awakening. This is all relatable as Tomberlin sings, ‘what are boyfriends when I have you / time rolls by so quickly when I’m standing next to you’ and feeling something more than friends when she confesses, ‘I watch myself undress and pretend that it’s for you.’ In the last minutes of the track the violins start to resemble heartstrings as ‘lay your hands on me / I just wanna be clean’ is repeated through layered vocals like a mantra that belongs to a teenager wishing on everything to have their crush like them back. The strongest undercurrent running throughout the entire EP is a feeling of yearning; for others, for yourself, for belonging
The final track of the EP is a cover of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s song ‘Natural Light.’ This is a wonderfully touching track in it’s own right, made heavy and sombre by Tomberlin’s gentle, muted arrangement. It is in ‘Natural Light’ that the singer’s delicate voice is best presented, her upbringing singing hymns on Sundays evident as it’s easy to imagine her voice around a church, the notes bouncing off hard stone. The lyrics reminisce on what could have been while trying to find the positive, moving between searching and contentedness. This is similar to the inspiration behind a lot of Tomberlin’s music: her frequent childhood relocation and adolescence in rural Illinois, finding herself through space and time that never stops moving. ‘Natural Light’ is the perfect closer to Projections, encompassing all the emotions Tomberlin conveys in her music even if she didn’t write the words. Both the singer and the audience may be wading through troubled waters but there’s peace in Tomberlin’s music, a stillness that makes it easy to feel ‘like everything’s alright.’
Rating: 7/10
Projections is available now via Saddle Creek
You Might Also Like:
Comments