Album Review: Freya Ridings Builds “Castles” Upon Love
I constantly remark on the world’s love for a sad song. Correction: sad, love song. In this world, everyone wants to be loved, and our attraction to melancholia stems from the nuances of that truth. Yes, I want to be loved and loving, but how I do I know if I am? How do I know if it’s right? Freya Ridings self-titled debut is built on asking herself this.
How do you know if you have a “good thing” with someone? How do you feel like you can get a good relationship, at all? Yes, I am asking a lot, but Freya Ridings, literally, uses questions to prompt verses and self-reflection on her hopes and fears. At least once, in all our lives, love will become an initiative; a driving force we must acquire either by achieving something or gaining someone. “Wishbone,” “Still Have You,” and “Unconditional” are just a few of the songs that have Freya singing to the unwavering romanticism that builds relationships. It truly is a beautiful thought that you could have someone love you…..forever.
Freya Ridings – Castles (Official Video)
I think what makes Freya Ridings so captivating as an artists is that she is classic and elegant in her delivery of a love song. Even her contemplations and doubts over whether love can be real and eternal move as gracefully as a ballerina at her prime. Her voice is not raw as much as pure: somehow, making the realest fear and dream of love float like uniting, emotional orbs. This can be experienced in tracks like, “Holy Water” and “Love Is Fire,” which are the album’s most adrenalized, ready-made tracks for any CW show where “the it couple” is either going to break up or reunite. You may laugh at the comparison, but it is tv and film or books that have been our teachers in love and dating or, at least, our guides to the fantasy of it. Hence, Freya uses her piano like a imaginative line crossing through all love’s fantasies to, hopefully, bring some level of “dream” to reality.
Freya Ridings – Lost Without You (Official Video)
For the most part, this s/t record is a quiet, beautiful, and pensive record, which are three words I would use to describe Freya’s voice. Even she belts there is a hushing quality to her vocals. As if she is the voice of silence, and all the thoughts we keep to ourself when trying to figure out how to make real love a cinematic experience. For More Information On Freya Ridings And To Buy Her Self-Titled Debut on July 19 Click Here.
