life is too short to listen to old music
Fenne Lily
Fenne Lily
country: UK
genre: Folk/Country, Indie
styles: Bristol Indie, Chamber Pop, Indie Anthem-Folk, Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter
In My Own Time
Single
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Reviews and Comments
A gorgeous and gripping portrait of Fenne’s last two years, Big Picture was pieced together in an effort to self-soothe. Tracked live in co-producer Brad Cook’s North Carolina studio, the album delineates the phases of love and becomes a map of comfort vs claustrophobia.
Though its creation took place amid personal and global turmoil, the ruminative yet candid Big Picture is Fenne’s most cohesive, resolute work to date, both lyrically and sonically. “This isn’t a sad album — it’s about as uplifting as my way of doing things will allow,” she says. “These songs explore worry and doubt and letting go, but those themes are framed brightly.” With confidence and quiet strength, each track provides an insight into Fenne’s ever-changing view of love and, ultimately, its redefinition — love as a process, not something to be lost and found.
While the album was written alone in Fenne’s Bristol flat – a fact intentionally reflected in its compact sonic quality – Big Picture was transformed from a solitary venture into a unifying collaboration during the recording process when she was joined by her touring band, Melina Dutere of Jay Som (mixing), Christian Lee Hutson (guitar and co production), and Katy Kirby (vocals).
Notably, these 10 songs are Fenne’s first and only to have been written over the course of a relationship; 2018’s On Hold and 2020’s BREACH both confront the pain of retrospection, saying goodbye to a love that’s gone. Big Picture does the exact opposite — rooted firmly in the present, it traces the narrative of two people trying their hardest not to implode, together.
“This album is an observation of the way I think about love, the self-examination that comes with closeness and the responsibilities involved in being a big part of someone else’s small(er) world,” summarizes Fenne. “It was written in a place of relative emotional stability – stability that felt unstable because of its newness, but also because of the global context. 2020 was the year of letting go, but we’d all already let go of so much and nothing felt like mine anymore. Writing always did, though, so that’s what I chose to do.”
latest releases
LP
Big Picture (Expanded Edition)
out on November 10, 2023
via Dead Oceans
LP
Big Picture
out on April 14, 2023
via Dead Oceans
Single
Dawncolored Horse
out on February 16, 2023
via Dead Oceans
Single
BREECH (acoustic)
out on August 06, 2021
via Dead Oceans
Single
I, Nietzsche (acoustic)
out on July 21, 2021
via Dead Oceans
LP
BREACH
out on September 18, 2020
via Dead Oceans
