TRACK: swim in Lindsay Munroe’s ‘River’

JUST pause a second, and see Lindsay Munroe. Just a brief pause, before you press the right-cursor on her latest track, “River”. 

I’ll pretty much guarantee you that you’ll utter an expletive in surprise. Like Micah P Hinson, her physicality belies the depth and power of what she’s capable of delivering; like Tim Buckley, you’ll wonder how a voice so seasoned can be so young.

“River” is the third track from Manchester’s Lindsay: the latest talent in that city’s seemingly inexhaustible musical lineage. 

It exhales on the back of a pretty, chorus-swathed major seventh. “I was sitting in the water/ I was trying to stay awake / I kept breaking, breaking, breaking,” Lindsay intones. It’s a luxurious track, but it has chill at its bones.

Lindsay explains: “I was in a relationship that ended very suddenly and with a lot of heartbreak, but we were back together within 48 hours. Months later I was still experiencing heartbreak and broken trust and not knowing what to do with it.”

“River” is taken from her EP Our Heaviness, which is released this Friday, July 19th. Elsewhere on the EP, on “Mirror”, she explores a kind of hard-edged alt.bluegrass, down by the water with PJ but also praying there with Alison Krauss; you’d swear this was the work of an American alt.country legend. 

If you go for a wander on her Soundcloud, you can find a lovely cover nugget: she takes Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” back to the porch at dusk, which is a far finer place for it to be.

With a brace of headline shows in her north-west hometown and the capital pencilled in for September, gather around and watch an awesome talent spread her wings and prepare for flight.

Lindsay Munroe’s Our Heaviness EP is released tomorrow, July 19th, at https://soundcloud.com/lindsaymunroe

You can keep abreast of forthcoming live shows at https://www.instagram.com/lindsaymunroemusic/