Allowing yourself to be vulnerable isn't as easy as all those sad songs make it seem. Bearing your big, scary emotions to the world is cathartic, yes — but it's also equally daunting and challenging. On girlpuppy's debut album When I'm Alone, Becca Harvey understands this, and she doesn't shy away from tackling the stuff that hurts, even if it can be a long and uncomfortable journey to get there.
The Atlanta-based singer-songwriter's debut EP Swan dropped in 2021, and it was easy to pigeonhole Harvey into the genre and subculture of "sad girl" indie rock, especially with Swan being produced with Phoebe Bridgers collaborator Marshall Vore. But what this label fails to recognize is that the "sad girl" isn't just sad for an aesthetic or to be the punchline of someone else's joke. The "sad girl" is also angry, hurt, nostalgic, compassionate and trying her best to make sense of the world around her. She's riddled with contradictions and nuances, and sadness is just one part of them. When I'm Alone shows Harvey looking inward, what she describes as the "internal battles with things I've done, rather than reflecting and blaming everyone else."
Harvey worked with producers John Michael Young, Sam Acchione and Henry Stoehr to craft the LP's intimate folk rock. Sonically, traces of Clairo's most recent work and Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore eras are present — soft, sweet vocals and acoustic ballads with pop sensibilities sprinkled in. But Harvey has also cited the soundtrack to everyone's most beloved 2009 vampires and werewolves flick, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as a major influence on her record. The New Moon soundtrack features indie-rock and folk icons like Bon Iver, Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, and Lykke Li, to name a few; music that Harvey describes as "mountain-esque." On When I'm Alone, that autumnal, woodsy and cinematic atmosphere comes through right away on the amuse-bouche of an intro, "Final Girl," a swirl of tranquil instrumentals, followed by the album's true opening track, "Wish." Harvey reminisces about a painful friendship breakup set to gentle shoegaze rock, pleading to mend the relationship even if it isn't good for either party: "I don't even need an apology," she sings wistfully.
Relationship conflict and the paradox of being in love — having to grapple with the negative emotions love inevitably brings — are a throughline on the LP. "Swallow" hooks listeners in with its laid back, swaying guitars, but the narrative of being so consumed by another person that you feel as though you don't belong to yourself anymore signifies that this feeling of breeziness is fleeting. The fingerpicked guitars and soft violins on "Somewhere" have that Phoebe Bridgers Stranger in the Alps flair, complete with lyrics like "I hate everyone I'm in love with" that serve to ultimately skewer Harvey rather than putting the whole blame on a partner. "I Want to Be There" has a rhythm that gallops and chugs forward as Harvey dreams about leaving her old life behind entirely and becoming a brand new person.
Tracks like "Denver," Harvey's sweet and bright ode to her brother, and "Emma Marie," a beautiful waltz-like proclamation of love and admiration, give the album some levity and provide pockets of optimism and hope. Harvey's knack for melding lightness and darkness in an organic way is a polished strong suit — take the title track, which at first lulls listeners into believing it's a brooding love song before quickly detouring into a darker obsession, something more codependent and toxic.
"I hate writing songs," Harvey confesses on the album's conclusion, "Permanent State." And listeners can't help but cut her some slack — writing music, after all, requires a certain level of rawness and vulnerability, one that's difficult to submerge your mind and heart into, but that Harvey pulls off with an assured musical voice. When I'm Alone was made for cold weather, changing seasons and deep feelings of introspection that will continue to evolve the longer you listen.
(Royal Mountain Records)The Atlanta-based singer-songwriter's debut EP Swan dropped in 2021, and it was easy to pigeonhole Harvey into the genre and subculture of "sad girl" indie rock, especially with Swan being produced with Phoebe Bridgers collaborator Marshall Vore. But what this label fails to recognize is that the "sad girl" isn't just sad for an aesthetic or to be the punchline of someone else's joke. The "sad girl" is also angry, hurt, nostalgic, compassionate and trying her best to make sense of the world around her. She's riddled with contradictions and nuances, and sadness is just one part of them. When I'm Alone shows Harvey looking inward, what she describes as the "internal battles with things I've done, rather than reflecting and blaming everyone else."
Harvey worked with producers John Michael Young, Sam Acchione and Henry Stoehr to craft the LP's intimate folk rock. Sonically, traces of Clairo's most recent work and Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore eras are present — soft, sweet vocals and acoustic ballads with pop sensibilities sprinkled in. But Harvey has also cited the soundtrack to everyone's most beloved 2009 vampires and werewolves flick, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as a major influence on her record. The New Moon soundtrack features indie-rock and folk icons like Bon Iver, Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, and Lykke Li, to name a few; music that Harvey describes as "mountain-esque." On When I'm Alone, that autumnal, woodsy and cinematic atmosphere comes through right away on the amuse-bouche of an intro, "Final Girl," a swirl of tranquil instrumentals, followed by the album's true opening track, "Wish." Harvey reminisces about a painful friendship breakup set to gentle shoegaze rock, pleading to mend the relationship even if it isn't good for either party: "I don't even need an apology," she sings wistfully.
Relationship conflict and the paradox of being in love — having to grapple with the negative emotions love inevitably brings — are a throughline on the LP. "Swallow" hooks listeners in with its laid back, swaying guitars, but the narrative of being so consumed by another person that you feel as though you don't belong to yourself anymore signifies that this feeling of breeziness is fleeting. The fingerpicked guitars and soft violins on "Somewhere" have that Phoebe Bridgers Stranger in the Alps flair, complete with lyrics like "I hate everyone I'm in love with" that serve to ultimately skewer Harvey rather than putting the whole blame on a partner. "I Want to Be There" has a rhythm that gallops and chugs forward as Harvey dreams about leaving her old life behind entirely and becoming a brand new person.
Tracks like "Denver," Harvey's sweet and bright ode to her brother, and "Emma Marie," a beautiful waltz-like proclamation of love and admiration, give the album some levity and provide pockets of optimism and hope. Harvey's knack for melding lightness and darkness in an organic way is a polished strong suit — take the title track, which at first lulls listeners into believing it's a brooding love song before quickly detouring into a darker obsession, something more codependent and toxic.
"I hate writing songs," Harvey confesses on the album's conclusion, "Permanent State." And listeners can't help but cut her some slack — writing music, after all, requires a certain level of rawness and vulnerability, one that's difficult to submerge your mind and heart into, but that Harvey pulls off with an assured musical voice. When I'm Alone was made for cold weather, changing seasons and deep feelings of introspection that will continue to evolve the longer you listen.
