Cruel World

She opens by holding back: So It Starts barely registers as a song, more a breath, before Make It All Better brings shape and leaves her voice low in the mix, close but not quite centred. The tension never resolves. The cleaner songs, To Love Somebody, White Noise, land immediately and slip away just as fast, polished into the current version of indie pop. She's more interesting when something feels slightly off, like Die Happy, where the bassline does the talking and her calm makes it heavier than it should be. The better songs keep slipping out of reach. You follow those instead.