Singer, songwriter and Brits 2022 rising star winner Holly Humberstone is obsessed with location. On her 2021 EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, she was lost and lonely in temporary house shares; on this alt-pop debut album the 23-year-old is panicked in soulless hotel rooms, or, as the title suggests, revisiting her past to forge a fresh start.
Her ever-changing surroundings often lead her to riffle through brighter memories for comfort. On Ghost Me’s playful country shuffle she’s back singing karaoke with friends, poleaxed with guilt at being away from them; while on Cocoon she heals the paralysis of depression (“Now I’ve become a taxidermy version of myself”) with episodes of glossy teen drama The OC. If the lyrical content often favours navel-gazing, nearly every song comes with an expertly crafted, big pop chorus or a sonic gear-change – Flatlining, for example, shifts from warm synths to a four-to-the-floor beat and tumbling electronics.
By the closing, acoustic Room Service, Humberstone’s location finally comes good. Soothing another’s ills via blissful isolation (“We’ll get room service / Where no one can reach us”) and copious alcohol from the minibar she finds the positives in fame’s dislocation.
