by Jade Winings (@jadewinings)
Philadelphia’s own Lindsay Reamer contributed to the plethora of polished album releases of 2024 with her debut album Natural Science. The record features warm guitar tones and easy going melodies to curate a smooth listening experience suited for a brisk walk filled with self reflection and holds the power to enhance natural lighting in the darkest of rooms. Utilizing her experience as a field scientist and musical talent, Reamer pulls listeners in with Natural Science by creating an organic expression of the resonation within nature intertwined with the simplicities of human experience.
Reamer’s cheerful writing tone and vulnerability tends to assist listeners with the realization of life not being as serious as we think it is and emotions are not as permanent as we sometimes feel they are. The writer’s openness and willingness to be happy can encourage others to be kinder to themselves, exemplified in tracks such as “Spring Song” and “Lucky”. “Spring Song” features playful synth bridges accompanied by the unsureness of spring’s lengthy cold as the sun shines but passes too quickly and shifty perspectives are to come with the clouds. Despite the staleness of Spring, there is still recognition in persistently feeling lighter as each day passes which can be a difficult trust to obtain. The imagery in “Lucky” allows us to vision the underdog in a coming of age film walking through the day disheveled, apathetic, but still hopeful for the future with the intuitive feeling life will still have as many highs as it does lows. The honesty and irony within the lyricism shine on the writer's witty persona carried through the album.
Natural Science also features the theme of life’s emotional and physical cycles, embracing the simplicity in life within the words of tracks “Red Flowers” and “Sugar”. The former portrays the perception of a simple but significant existence and the blissful knowledge of knowing times of pressure will always pass. “Sugar” feels as if it is tying up the loose ends of the emotional obstacles expressed in “Red Flowers” after the processing of events leading into the acceptance of the constancy of moving on. With many uplifting tracks, Natural Science comes to an end with a cover of “Heavenly Houseboat Blues” and the track does not fail to feel like a proper send off for the album before pressing repeat. The embrace of fiddle and Reamer’s vocals paired together with Jon Samuels’ polishes the charm of the song’s classic bluegrass twang. Considering a quote to Various Small Flames on the album where Reamer said, “a lot of the songs are about this path to greater self acceptance. Being able to do something that once made you afraid is one of the best feelings,” Natural Science can teach listeners the importance in feeling things fully and letting them go in order to enjoy life in the moment. Reamer considers the finishing of the album as overcoming a hurdle in order to be able to write songs that don’t feel like they are about wanting to write songs, which makes it safe to assume there will be more music worth supporting from her in the future.