OCTOBER SINGLE RELEASE – Aunty Freeda ‘Medo’
28 November 2023
By this I mean there’s a masterful balance of grounded nature and wistful thinking in her lyrics, while writing this review a father just walked past me and said to his son “see through your eyes not your brain” and in a strange way that ethos is reversed here; of course in lyricism you write about the here and now, but when those experiences sew into a tale of feeling, lust, grief, revelation – that is where the soul is, and that is where her work comes to life.
The charmingly titled second EP, “Cloud Work,” has arrived at an exciting time for Pem. Following an almost two-year break, she released the first single, “awe,” just three months ago, this muted story of ache and attachment leaves you breathless for a solution that never quite satisfies. Taking this bite is her well overdue new influx in listeners, which have not slowed down as the tracks trickle in.
Marking her time, just a month later “awe” was followed by “grips” ; I cant help to think that for Pem, once the ball starts rolling, she cares as much for withholding her work as she does for capitalising her words. This track opens on the most beautiful instrumentals of tranquil daybreak, a guitar is picked as delicately as a harp hushed and assertive. This is Pem at her peak. With grips I feel like I am greeting an old friend in 2022 track “overshare” – in how Pem fantasies in a world that is frozen and she can’t press play in fear she knows where the story ends but cannot change it, a looping train track destined for a crash.
[Bridge]
I’m not done, I’m not done, it’s not done
Please, come, I’m undone
It’s not done, I’m not done yet
Back to bed, back to bed, get upset
Back to head, head to head
Back to bed, get upset again
[Chorus]
Ah, I am going to lose it
Ah, I am going to lose it
[Outro]
That was it
Nevermind
“Cloud Work” opens on track 1 “Gulls” Pem begins this journey alone with a guitar, humming to her own confession, this song is certainly about escape, whether it’s her own or someone else’s i’m not sure. It is an excellent start to a body of work, draped in texture accessorised in sea blues I find it hard to believe much of this album was written in the bustle london where she resides
[Chorus 2]
Sea bird and a great height, another body of water
Real birds leave you behind, no turn of the shoulder
Seen them all, they make me cry, you’d say keep laughing
Laugh it off, there’s always sky
The album then picks up the vigour leading from “awe” to “grips, we then land on third and final single release “gut health”. This song stands out on the EP to me, it feels as if it comes from a different place to the others, time isn’t still here, it’s zested in frankness, spoken not imagined. It’s easy to comment on Pems use of metaphors because they’re universal, I relate to this. Pems’ voice walks a tightrope, fighting a break, a slip that would lead her to fall, and in doing so, she fails…but when it seems she might…she never does. I have stolen this quote from her talk with The Line Of Best Fit:
“I wrote it in the aftermath of an assault that happened some years ago. Using the metaphor of water (sinking, washing, floating) I wanted to express a feeling of being submerged under a difficult memory, trying to wash it away whilst watching life carry on as normal above. Ultimately it’s a hopeful song about growth, renewal and the importance of following the gut!”
I reside in Bristol which is where Pem has spent many years, and myself and Pem have crossed paths before. People exude their own being completely unknown to themselves which is soaked up by those around them, and from Pem I caught a perspective for life, a charm so endearing to the one that possesses it there’s no need to push it onto others, but if you ask, she would show you.
I have decided to not yet listen to closing track martin pêcheur, not out of laziness, and not because I do not want to share the moment with you, only I am sitting indoors and it’s a sunny day. I know I may have to wait a while before anything new comes from Pem, so for now I plan to go outside, sit by the water and let time go.
