by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Being a true original in modern music (of any genre), whether you are taking cues for other artists (everybody is inspired by something or somebody) or not, is so hard to do these days. After all, you have to reach an audience, the larger the better, and any potential audience has its demands, the key being that there is is something it will want to listen to. Yet, if you stick to your guns and have enough inventiveness and talent you are able to do so, no matter what. That is where the seemingly enigmatic, but profoundly inventive singer-songwriter Naima Bock and her latest album Bellow a Massive Dark Land comes in.
Instead of something we could simply call songs, Bock presents ten detailed, thoroughly sophisticated and meticulously arranged compositions in the form of songs, making them oh so easy on the ear on one hand, and something to ponder about on the other. While Bock is behind the songwriting and quite a bit of production and arranging here, she engaged quite a large group of musicians to be able to present her rather lush musical ideas. These ideas have an ebb and flow, and can, like on “Feed My Release,” start out with just her voice and acoustic guitar and turn into a baroque pop delight.
At the same time, Bock has a light touch in her lyrics, even when handling tricky subjects like aging or personal feeling, where quite a few artists can easily fumble the ball. She sings on “Feed My Release,” “So hand my mistakes / Right back into my face and trust / That I will not make / Them again, but I can’t tell you that”. Eventually, listening to this album you realize Bock has created music that is so intimate and original, combining the elements you might be familiar with, but are rarely presented like this.