Impatient…hurt and not content with the journey at the moment…Ĭoming out of “Withdraw” with barely a pause, the Kimbra/Hybrid literally and figuratively making a conscious decision to pull away and disengage on so many levels that have been explored in the previous songs, the lugubrious, muddy pulse of clockwork rhythm, is suddenly replaced with the sounds of an arrhythmic and broken sound scape of a clock in the throes of winding down and ceasing all together, (her broken heart in the act of shutting off…) It is a bit of a list song where the Kimbra/Hybrid is rattling off all of the areas in her life where she is no longer patient with her youth and wants the wisdom and comfort that comes with age before she would be able to comprehend or assimilate it. Young and alone in a new place far from the ones you love and no one to comfort… perhaps feeling judged by others, (especially as a part of the music business), might give way to inner turmoil over ones place and purpose and is certainly deep fodder for the aching fear that the song gives off. The song itself was apparently written not long after Kimbra had moved away from home to the unfamiliarity of a large city, (Melbourne). She uses her instrument to amazing effect here. She is part of the landscape as a sound and not just a vocalist or performer. His film scoring elements to the fore here and perhaps at their most influential to Kimbra as she performs with a vulnerability that bests even her vocal on “Plain Gold Ring”. (One wonders where in the process of the record it was recorded before she moved to other Producers to complete the album as she sounds positively exhausted for real and Tetazs Production methods are apparently fairly method when it comes to guiding a performance by an artist)! The song was recorded with Francois Tetaz firmly in the Producer, (and co writer) seat as he was for most of the first act, (Side 1) of the album.

That Kimbra was purposefully ending the album on such a challenging and strong 5 minutes of music that has not only never been played live but would put record company executives into a tizzy as to how the hell to promote it, is a testament to her bravery and dare I say hubris as I cannot remember a debut album with the brass balls to end on a most dissonant vocalized minor second chord! It is one of the most precarious sounding pieces of music I have heard in ages…akin to the head space inhabited by Roger Waters’ “Pink” in Pink Floyds’ The Wall…Īll versions of the VOWS album end with this piece and there clearly was a reason as no other song could possibly follow it… (or maybe not as we will see!) It flits and wavers, touches and retreats, pushes away and embraces in an ultimate stale mate of emotional paralysis…feeling everything and feeling nothing.Ĭonfusion…perfect clarity that all is unclear…

If that is confusing, try fitting this piece into any simple idea of a Pop song and you will fail. The lyrics above are an indicator as to how this plays out in that it does… We are on the last stop along this winding journey of an album. I n eed a compass but not a conversation”

Sweet relief kimbra album cover