Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black

by Zena Grieg

published: 5 / 12 / 2023

Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black

Label: Polydor
Format: CD

Atmospheric and reflective solo debut album from classically trained violinist and singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone

Review

Grantham-born, classically trained violinist and singer-songwriter plus 2022 Brit Rising Star Award recipient Holly Humberstone has released her debut album. The songs for ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ were written during a lengthy tour supporting Olivia Rodrigo. Humberstone said her songs feature ‘tattoo lyrics’, specifically relating to her life. Key themes are coming of age and loneliness, the arrangements sparse and soulful, the lyrics expressing vulnerability. Songs to listen out for in this thirteen-track collection include: the emotive opener and title track with its in-your-face, confessional lyrics on rebirth and liberation: “Finally I’m living, not surviving/And it’s funny you said I’d never have the guts/Well suck it up/I’m gonna bottle up this feeling”; the lead single, the pulsating bop ‘Into Your Room’; the catchy ‘Cocoon’ on rekindling a romance, with its startling line: “Now I’ve become a taxidermy version of myself”; acoustic, melodic ballad ‘Kissing In Swimming Pools’; ‘Superbloodmoon’, a harmonious collaboration with Houston-based indie artist dvd, with its unexpected lyrics: “So can we strip down to our vitals/I’m obsessed with your design”; the movingly, self-excoriating ‘Antichrist’ on an unavoidable breakup: ”I genuinely cared about this person and wanted so badly to make it work, but I knew something wasn’t right and my heart wasn’t in it. I knew that I was inevitably going to have to hurt the person I wanted so much to love”; the layered ‘Baby Blue’; enigmatic, glitchy ‘Flatlining’ with its moody synths and rousing electronics, challenging the boundaries of pop; and the pared-back closer, with its keen sense of longing, the acoustic ‘Room Service’. Atmospheric, reflective, with a refreshing candour, this is an engaging album, coming ahead of a planned UK-wide tour in the Spring of 2024.

Track Listing:-

1 Paint My Bedroom Black
2 Into Your Room
3 Cocoon
4 Kissing In Swimming Pools
5 Ghost Me
6 Superbloodmoon (feat. d4vd)
7 Antichrist
8 Lauren
9 Baby Blues
10 Flatlining
11 Elvis Impersonators
12 Girl
13 Room Service