ALBUM REVIEW: A Human Home – Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys
It was only four years ago that COVID-19 stood the entire world still, closed doors and windows and kept everyone at home. Four years ago, so long ago yet not long enough to be a distant memory. 2020 was a year that will ring through history for decades to come, and has become the subject of many talented artists’ works as they deconstruct the effect of lockdown on the human race. Through photographs, video footage, visual art at the hands and mouse clicks of those experiencing it firsthand, there was also a section of musicians who wrote out full novels while staying indoors – both about the pandemic, over-dramatising the situation they were facing, or using the time to come up with something new and bold and creative altogether. This is what happened at the hands of LUCY KRUGER and her band THE LOST BOYS, and the result is their latest offering in A Human Home.
A bittersweet and soft lo-fi sound, Kruger has a near-whisper element to her vocals that adds to the lockdown-based nature of the record. On the track Open Road, to name one, the sparse but intense vocals feel surrounding and suffocating. Simple enough to live with, but feeling every note and hearing every breath, it speaks to the truth of the COVID-19 lockdown: staying at home with no repercussions is every working man’s dream, until it becomes a reality that one has no choice but to deal with. No seeing friends, no visiting family, even feeling watched when leaving for a walk or a jog or a trip to the supermarket. It sounds ridiculous that it can cause anxiety, but it was a harsh reality for many people and Kruger is able to bring back those feelings through her art and her voice.
Following on is Rooms, which was one of the most notable single releases from THE LOST BOYS leading up to the album. Being a long-distance collaboration between Kruger and her friend Candice Cruse, inspired by their text and telephone conversations while they were unable to be together physically, it nails down just how lonely being at home with no outside connection can be; even when everyone is just a call or a text away, there is no loneliness like physical loneliness. This is one of the deepest and most stunning tracks on A Human Home, as instead of playing on anxiety or uncertainty, it plays on the universal feeling that survives beyond the lockdown: loneliness. Isolation. Being on one’s own, mostly without any choice or say in the matter.
As the record plays on, it becomes evident that this isn’t about the music. This isn’t about the sounds, the use of instruments, the chords being played, the strings being strummed. It’s about the emotions every part carries. It’s about how Kruger works with her band to tell the stories of mere years ago, and expressing just how it wasn’t just another era in time. It wasn’t just like any other year, those seasons weren’t like any other. The lo-fi bedroom feeling is intentional, and the whispers and spoken-word lyrics escaping Kruger’s lips are less put across like a singer singing their songs and more like a person letting out their frustrations, their worries, their nightmares without any thought behind it.
It carries this unique beauty and grace, as all art can in its subjective wonders. However, with the relatable background of this collection and the feelings and experiences being shared too much in recent times, there is a stronger sense of power in A Human Home. A stronger power which allows it to resonate with everyone, as it triggers different memories from different people. Memories that will remind them to learn from what they’ve seen, heard, and felt; all while showing them that things are getting better and will always get better from those dark days.
A Human Home is more of an audible art gallery, showing glimpses and glimmers into different lives on different days during the 2020 lockdowns. The overall takeaway from this record however, is that LUCY KRUGER knows how to shine a light on those memories one might’ve had hidden away, and make them grow from them and realise just how much better things can be, will be, and are. The rooms are empty, and the doors are open. It’s time to leave home and explore the world once again.
Rating: 7/10
A Human Home is out now via Unique Records.
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