Listening to Tomberlin ensues a pseudo-ballet on a tipsy night. My untrained feet a pointed axis, dancing to the waltz of her songs.
Sarah Beth “Tomberlin’s” stellar debut album At Weddings came to us in 2018. Her music is minimal, a voice accompanied by only her own guitar, piano and occasional strings. Melancholy vocals sing of her struggles with faith and family.
Tomberlin grew up religious. I mean really religious. Having grown up in Kentucky, her songs sing of the guilt she harbors as she grappled with her faith, about her frustration with God. These heavy themes contrast beautifully with the airiness of her sound, often sounding like a dull light fading in fog.
In the track “I’m Not Scared” Tomberlin meditates:
And it felt so strange when I said it out loud
That I look for redemption in everyone else
But funny thing is that I always hated church
Spend so much time looking that I forgot to search
And to be a woman is to be in pain
And my body reminds me almost every day
That I was made for another, but I don't want to know that
Cause it happened once and I always look back
“Tornado” is a painfully under-rated track on On Weddings. The song’s intro, silence slowly pierced by the crescendo of a plane flying overhead, brings to mind Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Skies” off The Wall. Roger Waters and Tomberlin both sing of a loss of hope, with her’s being a personal reflection, a confession:
I am a tornado
With big green eyes and a heart beat
You don't know what to do
And I don't blame you
Despite her melancholy sound, Tomberlin has encounter plenty of positive change in recent months. She moved from Louisville to Los Angeles with her white-coat mut Annie in tow. She’s met the likes of Phoebe Bridgers among other heroes. Just this month, she kicked off her tour opening for (Sandy) Alex G, an artist she’s been a fan of for years. I’m seeing them together in mid-November in St. Paul Minnesota and anticipate an intimate show like no other.
HAVOC MUSIC 