Why I Love LUMP

WHY I LOVE LUMP

“LUMP is the product of Mike Lindsay and Laura Marling…” according to the final track Phantom Limb from the band’s sophomore album Animal released in July of this year. The band is a collaboration between UK singer/songwriter Laura Marling and instrumentalist Mike Lindsay of the folktronica band Tunng. The duo met at a Neil Young concert in 2016 and began collaborating on what would become the band’s debut self-titled studio album released in 2018.

The album of the same name of their group LUMP is overall an enjoyable listen with much of what makes both artists great working in harmony. The soundscapes of their debut album tend to be serene, yet subtly mutant-sounding folktronica from Mike with Laura providing lyrics that focus more on linear poetry over more traditional song structures. The best example of this style is easily the opening track “Late to the Flight”; Mike provides a steady and serene mixture of acoustic guitar and deep bass synths that compliment Laura’s personal poetry of feeling alienated as an artist in the public eye. The album ends with Laura reading off the credits, which is a tradition that the band would go to carry into the future. Overall, the debut album from LUMP is an ambitious, if not brief, release that leaves me wanting a bit more from what the band has to offer.

Before we get to the band’s newest album, we have to talk about what Laura was up to in 2020. Not long after the release of LUMP, Laura returned to her home studio in London to start the recoding process for her 7th album Song for Our Daughter. With a title and lyrical theme influenced by Maya Angelou’s book Letter to My Daughter, she maintains a musical focus on classic Americana and singer/songwriter sounds with a stripped back and intimate instrumentation.

As a whole, 2020’s Song for Our Daughter is a triumph in folk and singer/songwriter music that any fan of the genre will find something to enjoy. It has some of the most honest and emotional music you can find within folk, emphasizing Laura’s breathtaking vocals and lyrical honesty. One of the major standouts from the album is the title track with its lyrics about being a woman and growing up in an industry that exploits you, and the struggle to protect yourself and future generations while growing as an artist. These lyrics are backed by wonderful, sparse acoustic guitars and emotive strings. The other major stand out — and one of my favorite songs from last year — is the uplifting “Only The Strong”, a beautifully bittersweet track about reflecting on past struggles and wrongs and finding a way to move past them. The lyrics are complemented perfectly by a subtle drum beat and Laura’s fingerpicked guitar that honestly reminds me of John Prine’s 1991 song “All The Best”. 

Song for Our Daughter is without a doubt one of the best singer/songwriter albums in recent memory and easily Laura’s best solo work to date and an undeniable triumph.

Notice how in the last paragraph I said that Song for Our Daughter was Laura’s best solo album? That’s where LUMP’s newest album Animal comes into the fold. Just one year after the release of Song for Our Daughter, LUMP returned with the first single and title track from their newly announced album Animal. The song “Animal” is simultaneously a natural evolution of the sound of LUMP’s debut and a wild departure from the slow and poetic sounds of folktronica ballads, into the sounds of post-punk, synth pop, and baroque pop. The track is an infectious and danceable song about human nature turning feral and the destructive pattern of what it means to find meaning as a person; these lyrics are complemented by Mike’s steady and bouncing beat, filled with rich bass guitar and New Order style synths whirring in the background as Laura explores her lower register with an almost cold blooded tone.

These lyrical and musical themes continue on in the other singles, and the album as a whole. Animal released on July 30, 2021 to critical and fan acclaim and quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year by far. The album is leaps and bounds better than its predecessor and a massive step forward for folktronica as a genre. It tackles such topics of young love, toxic masculinity, agoraphobia, depression, and the human condition without ever coming off as pretentious or full of itself.

During the recording of this album in 2020, Laura started studying for her masters degree in psychoanalysis — which definitely shows through the personal and deeply psychological lyrics. The lyrics and vocals aren’t the only thing that this album massively improved over its predecessor; the instrumentals also come off as more ambitious and fleshed out, with ambient style and slow acoustic and electronic backgrounds swapped for a dynamic range of sound. This is seen in songs such as “We Cannot Resist” and “Paradise” having a much more clear rock influence. “Paradise” specifically stands out with its steadily building groove; it ends with an absolutely impeccable guitar solo from Mike and Laura’s vocals are mixed so perfectly to add to the highly textured and complex sound of the song. Quiet moments like the short-yet-sweet “Oberon” and the incredibly emotional “Red Snakes” add great amounts of variety to the track list.

While I would love to gush forever about how much I love Animal, and how excited I am for the future of this project, I think the best advice I can give is simply to go and listen to the album for yourself. Animal is one of those rare genre-bending albums under the general “indie” umbrella. It truly uses the full capacity of the members involved and has both of them using their years of experience to create something positively special. So what would I say if someone asked me what LUMP was? I would simply tell them that “LUMP is the product of Mike Lindsay and Laura Marling…”.

Ratings 

LUMP Self Titled: 7/10

Laura Marling Song for Our Daughter 9/10

LUMP Animal: 9-10/10

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