REVIEW: Taylor Lamborn — Brittle (SINGLE)
Taylor Lamborn’s lyrics in her song “Brittle” seem to echo what the world is feeling: we’re just trying to make it through the day. Each lyrical line is like a novel to itself. Lamborn’s show-stopping vocals capture the tone and the mental exhaustion of it all. Armed with just an acoustic guitar and an open-diary vibe, “Brittle” is a follow-up to Taylor’s excellent (and much more) dramatic “Fine”. What is evident from this latest release is that Taylor, who hails from Cleveland, has a compass that points to success.
URL: https://www.taylorlamborn.com/
As a singer/songwriter, Lamborn has a penchant for throwing out one-liners that not only paint a clear picture of a universal feeling, but she draws it so clearly for the listener you can almost taste it. She opens the song with the words just nerves, flesh and bone, not made of stone. At that moment I was thinking this was another break up song, a relationship gone sour. I think it’s more and I felt like as the song continued, it became bigger and had much more depth. Time is a thief you haven’t learned to barter, she sings. I loved this line. Deadlines and commitments are constant (for most people anyway). Some days you just want to get off that conveyor belt. Throughout “Brittle” she maintains a modest, lovely range. I kept waiting for her to really belt out — like she does in “Fine”, but she is patient. I think there is melancholy in this song. But not Sylvia Plath-like sadness. Maybe it’s the trickling acoustic guitar, or maybe because Lamborn is so genuine, the sun always seems to be on the horizon.
Underneath the words in “Brittle” is this feeling of optimism. I think she’s saying these things both aloud and to her friends and loved ones. But I think this is just one day for her. I didn’t feel like she was in a slump and being stuck in bed. I imagine her getting up and taking on the world the next day. I think we all have those moments where we feel broken and we feel like our armor has been cracked. We just need to release it. We need to breathe a little deeper and let that toxicity and people that wear on us out of our minds and perhaps lives. Maybe because we’re hearing angry songs or perceived angry songs, there’s a notion that this is who we are all the time. I don’t think so. As a listener, I felt like Lamborn doesn’t live in this world and she’s reaching out to her listener as a way of saying, “I get it.”
She might also be communicating to her listener that she has big dreams and she’s trying to not be jealous of the success of others and where they are at. Rest be assured, Taylor Lamborn, you are quite the success story. And your chapters are being written. I’m saying it for prosperity, and they can carve these words into stone, your talents are tremendous. “Brittle” is one of Lamborn’s strongest releases yet.
Colin Jordan
