Released eight years after her previous album This is Now, Lindsey White’s Renegade expands on her ability to experiment with different sounds and instruments and fuse them with classic folk-rock tunes.
This album showcases a stylish coalescence of a number of instruments – each coming in at their finest hour. Be it the brass in “My Best Shot,” the violin in “Asylum,” or the strings in “Bugs,” each instrument works well and helps to produce a stimulating sound.
The album touches on a few musical genres, ranging from classic folk music on “Equinox” to the soulful “Headingley” to the rock-infused “Monster” – almost every track touches on more than one genre. That being said, my favorite track on the album has to be “Unwell” – a beautiful blend of bossa nova, jazz, and folk.
Tracks like “Bugs,” “Monster,” and “Heart Strike” do well to accent White’s vocal prowess. Her lyrics sway between optimism, resilience, and melancholia. These themes resonate throughout the album and appropriately sum up the album’s title.
The lyrics, sung by White and backdropped with fancy instrumentation, do well to tell a story of a strong-willed fighter.
Renegade sounds like the love child of Regina Spektor’s Far and Florence and the Machine’s Lungs. It’s a well-crafted experimental album.
If you are a fan of groovy folk-rock or you just need some good music to chill out to, you will find what you need on this album.