Originally from Dundee, but now based in Bristol, Native describes their style as merging alternative and pop sensibilities, whilst telling a story, to go for that raw, emotional depth that will reach many.
The newest album – “The Lonely Nature of Charlie L’Beau” has been described by Native as “an intimate yet theatrical journey through solitude, self-discovery, and transformation.”
Promising sounds of soft garage, left-field pop, and ambient sounds, which makes me think it’s somewhat experimental and Native also promises a theatrical side, which focuses on a particular character, Charlie L’Beau.
The album has seven tracks on it, with “Cold Open” being the opening track, it starts with almost a classical feel and hints of a choir (almost) accompany it, with a gorgeous piano melody, there’s no singing in this – it’s simply instrumental, and if anything, quite whimsical and relaxing to listen to – it’s a melodic and uplifting and a nice start to the album, building a nice foundation to begin with.
“Feeling Myself” follows, and it sounds a little bit eerier at first, but then completely switches up and introduces the soft-garage style that was initially promised.
The vocals don’t kick in until about 50 seconds in, so it is a touch too long of an intro for me, but that said, when the vocals come in, it totally takes control and switches it up again and shifts the attention seamlessly.
Joseph Strauss is the man behind Native and his vocals offer a real soft but powerful tone that pierces through the track, whilst still coming across quite mysterious.
The lyrics were quite difficult to pick up on, but they do become more apparent after a few listens, but I feel that just adds to the ambience of the track.
It does get more upbeat as the track goes on and it’s easier to pick up, and slowly twinkles out, which is a lovely ending for the second track.
The third track on the album is “Summer of all these Sad Songs” – which is a quiet beginning but suddenly punches in and sounds like anything but a sad song – this is probably my favourite track on the album, it feels like a real coming of age, indie-pop summer tune that you’d turn up your radio up for.
It reminded me of a mix of Corella, Sea Girls and The 1975 in regards to it’s energy and punchiness – it’s incredibly fun to listen to, but still has that deep meaning listening to the lyrics – they’re reflective, intuitive and generally relatable and it’s the perfect recipe for a Summer Indie-Pop anthem.
“Think About it” follows as the fourth track and the mood suddenly turns very melancholic.
It’s still very reflective, but compared to the last track, it’s got a more sad tone in it, but it does elevate throughout with the use of production, if anything, I did find this a little bit distracting at times, but the vocals do eventually punch through and take centre-stage.
It does lift mood-wise as the song comes on, and follows the theme of happy backing-track, but with sad thoughtful lyrics – it creates quite a mix of emotion when listening to it, and it’s quite interesting and thought-provoking and experiments well with the tempo, which I feel demonstrates the mood swings people can go through.
It’s quite apparent that there are themes throughout the album appear to go between solitude, change, relationships, both romantic and family and discovering who they are, all which will resonate with someone, somewhere – they certainly have with me so far, it’s a really powerful album.
“Grey Feathers” follows, and again is a soft piano track, and experiments with minimal vocals and again that choral feel that you may hear in classical tracks – almost gospel like, it’s incredibly soothing and a nice way to break up the album.
“Therapy Song” is the penultimate track, and initially, this feels a much rockier, more indie-esque track with a bit more attitude, but I don’t know if this symbolising a little bit of built up emotion, feeling and maybe even anger?
The vocals are a bit softer, almost as if they’re talking to a therapist, writing in a diary, really opening up about their life experiences and relationships.
It does appear to open up with more production too, crossing the boundaries of multi-genre, something Native have clearly demonstrated skill in throughout the album.
It’s quite a meaty track in regards to length, if anything it is a bit too long for me – but the ending itself goes back to that whimsical, twinkly feel, then into soft electronica in the end – kind of reminded me of “Fred, Again” in a way.
The final track of the album is “The Rainbow Connection” – it’s a much more acoustic-sounding track, and I’m glad Native has used this style to end on, as I feel it shows the concept and rawness in it’s full form, there is a beautiful backing violin piercing through the back of the vocals and it really elevates the emotion, and the soft piano also accompanies it beautifully.
It’s the perfect track to end on and has a really soft ending too, almost tying up the end with a bow, I really enjoyed this as a track.
Overall it is a very powerful album with a lot packed in, with a lot of different elements – but it balances all of them really well and has a song for every type of mood, the production is sublime, the lyrics are both raw and real and the backing tracks are incredibly inviting, a fantastic album.
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