Album Review: Tomberlin - 'i don’t know who needs to hear this'

Often music can be used as an escapist tool, a way for people to disappear from their own world and sink into someone else’s. But there are the rare albums that hold the mirror up directly to the listener, whispering realities gently into their ear. It’s a small field, inhabited by the likes of Duster, Grouper and now Tomberlin.

Candidly and unapologetically, the American exposes the fragile nature of life, and the current of emotions we all try so hard to ignore. Every track is incredibly visceral, and paints a picture of a different feeling or experience. On ‘Possessed’, the sounds of birds and light guitar feel like the morning sun on puffy eyelids. Elsewhere, the lovely ‘Unsaid’ captures the feeling of walking through city streets at dusk. And there’s a potent intensity to the grungy ‘Happy Accident’. 

At times biting, at other times soothing, the album’s final track ‘idkwntht’ – with its luminous bass, shimmering vocals, loping rhythm and crystal piano notes – perhaps sums it up best: “This song is simple / but it ain’t easy”.

Listen: ‘Possessed’
Score: 8/10

Out now via saddle creek.