Icelandic songstress Emiliana Torrini's most widely exposed single may be the bright, sunny, upbeat and tropical "Jungle Drum", but I find her most convincing when she explores a darker, more sombre aesthetic - as she did when she contributed "Gollum's Song" to the soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
"To Be Free" is a track from her fourth studio album Love in the Time of Science (1999), which AllMusic.com's MacKenzie Wilson describes as "a shimmering delight of gossamer lyrics and swooning instrumental imagery". The song is subtle and introspective, allowing Torrini's voice to flutter and grope for answers over a delicate bassline and understated piano chords.
The lyrics are simple but effective, fleshing out a psychological portrait characterized by her lyrical persona's struggles to achieve emotional independence from a boy who 'broke into [her] heart ...[that] No one could ever forget ':
'It shouldn't hurt me to be free It's what I really need To pull myself together But if it's so good being free Would you mind telling me Why I don't know what to do with myself'
The song reminds me of "Heard It All Before", a track from her previous album Me and Armini (2008): both are haunting explorations of inner dissonance, relying of subtle metaphors and a certain abstractedness that prevents the songs from seeming too confessional or biographical despite its honest, soul-baring showcase of vulnerability. Each song is underscored by a desperation for answers and emotional closure, but the listener experiences an anguished emotional journey that remains open-ended and unresolved.
