Detroit-born Americana/indie rock songstress Julie Belle has had music running through her veins since she was a toddler, learning to play piano from her mother, who taught the instrument in her day job. As she grew up, music became more than a hobby and instead a comfort, an outlet, a driving creative force that pulled her through a young divorce. Songwriting can be therapy of the most honest kind, and Julie’s emotions flooded out through her debut EP ‘Run’ in 2011, inspired by her failed marriage and her mental exhaustion. Now, four years later, her music is still lonesome, dark and melancholic, as well as being overwhelmingly personal, but it’s stronger – as she is.
Julie’s latest EP (out today) is titled ‘You Were Younger’, a self-aware reflection on her raising in Detroit that is led by the powerful ache of ‘Burning’. Deeply set in the south of the city as smoke rose into the air and houses lay empty, she compares the setting to her love for someone who is forever tied to that time in her life, wrapping up the haunting and passionate tale with distorted guitars and pedal steel. Julie’s vocals rise like smoke wafting into the air, pure and fluttering but piercing and strong. Meanwhile, amidst the swirling drama of the A Fine Frenzy-esque ‘Pacific’, she appropriately semi-drowns in the production, an ethereal voice on the wind that finds poetry in internal conflict and a desperate plea not to be forgotten.
The atmospheric lament of ‘Prodigal’ follows, drawing subtly from country pop alongside folk rock for a track that perfectly defines her interpretation of Americana. Her musicality is truly fascinating, layering soundscapes in a way that feels minimalist and abstract but heavily textured at the same time. As with the previous two tracks, ‘Prodigal’ is a very reflective offering, self-analysing as she reaches out to an unnamed person in a perhaps futile attempt. ‘Long Road’ looks to immortalize her emotional journey in a very literal sense of traveling, as she moves on from heartbreak and wonders in doubt if the one she loves will take her in and heal those wounds.
As the EP comes to a close with ‘Listen Low’, a bluesy guitar stands stark and rhythmic against the stripped-back production, slowly evolving into a multi-layered kick in the musical teeth that builds drama and supports the impassioned rock delivery. On each of the five tracks on display here, Julie proves that she is a capable vocalist and musician (she played guitars and piano on the record), with a songwriting gift that makes her lyrics deep, poetic and interesting, providing them much scope for interpretation. She’s on the edge of multiple genres, with indie rock being the most prominent, but she never abandons Americana and she seems most at home hovering above the fence, refusing to be pinned down.
Most of all this EP is honest, at times vulnerable, often sad and lonely, occasionally angry, with doubt and resentment and emptiness perpetuating her struggles and victories. For something different but emotionally powerful and great to blast at high volume, Julie Belle’s ‘We Were Younger’ EP is worth the listen.
Originally posted here.
