Album Review: Julia Cumming, Julia

Julia Cumming has had a very successful career as the bassist and lead vocalist of psychedelic indie-rockers Sunflower Bean.

Julia, her solo debut, came about after decamping to LA, where she worked with producer Brian Robert Jones.

Cumming called the period of writing a “second artistic puberty” and, indeed, there’s a teenage confessionalism about the 11 songs that makes them wonderfully raw.

The singer’s voice, which recalls Beach House’s Victoria Legrand, is the perfect vehicle for delivering her touching, graceful lyrics, addressed mostly to herself. She’s at her best when wandering through the back corridors of her mind (‘Hollywood Communication’) or singing about UTIs (‘Forget The Rest’).

And she sounds untouchable, meanwhile, on the vulnerable ‘Emotional Labor’ (“I don’t want to be the bigger person / I don’t want to be a person at all”), where her voice stirs your soul as it hovers over sentimental piano chords. Less effective is ‘Revel In The Knowledge’, where her broad truisms feel slightly trite or unearned.

Nonetheless, there’s still plenty to admire on the impressive Julia.

7/10