May 2

By: Ava Ronning

Coming out of the disarray of 2020-2021 comes Hatchie's sophomore album, Giving The World Away. The record is still 28-year-old Harriette Pilbeam's classic dream-pop sound but infused with deeper introspection. Giving The World Away explores themes like love, loss, finding yourself, and all the ever-complicated and messy in-betweens.

The title track beautifully exemplifies these themes, where Pilbeam writes about anger, confusion, and dissolving trust. To echo this dissolving feeling, the instrumentation becomes more distant as the fade-out line repeats: "what if what drew us to one another triggers our demise."

Giving the World Away finds Hatchie not only writing differently, but trying out new sounds. These new sounds are just enough for long-time fans to tell the difference but for new listeners to feel her unique style, with its vulnerable lyricism and soft, dreamy mood reminiscent of Wolf Alice and Mazzy Star.

The album opens with "Lights On," and right away, it expresses the fear and excitement that comes with a new relationship. The first verse says, "don't fall too fast, I've got this feeling that won't ever last, I never wanted to fall," but she lets her anxieties go in the chorus, singing, "I never felt so good with the lights on, I never understood you were the right one." The track has a similar feeling to her previous album but with a newfound self-confidence.

A few tracks later comes "The Rhythm," one of her most sonically ambitious on the record. It opens with a jungle-esque drum beat that gives way to a broad soundscape of bass, heavy synth, and distant vocals floating over the top. As the song goes on, you never know what to expect. The listener can hear essences of 90s pop, distant sirens, and Sarah Barreiles' "Love Song" style heavy piano. It sounds like it wouldn't go together, but these parts tie into each other seamlessly. The lyrics perfectly mirror the new sound: "took some time for me to find the rhythm/it's hard to see, but believe in me, it's within."

This newfound security and confidence are by no means ever-present. "Quicksand" gives way to the insecurities and deep-seated fears that haunt the back of one's mind. The verses linger in Joy Division style reverb-drenched guitar and synth, while the chorus brings a groove back, but with ominous droning background vocals buried far below. The chorus is so upbeat that it feels shocking - almost out of place, especially when contrasted with the feeling of the verses.

For that reason, the direness of the lyrics may be more easily recognized without all the production. If there were a song that would be best fit to be stripped down and slower, it's “Quicksand.” On the other hand, it's incredibly clever, akin to the feeling of covering up anxious thoughts with a plastered-on smile.

The closing track, "Til We Run Out of Air," closes out the record with a breath of fresh air. Going into the refrain, Hatchie's dreamlike voice soars: "open the curtains and let in the light," which genuinely feels like letting the light in, aided by jangly guitar and Cocteau Twins-esque echoey synth, a hopeful end to an emotional whirlwind of an album.

Pilbeam has grown significantly since her last record, Keepsake, gifting listeners with lyrics that feel like catching up with an old friend while driving past city lights at night- authentic and incredibly freeing.