From »You can’t transplant an old tree« to »Only the tough make it into the garden«, there is no shortage of proverbs – more or less persuasive – about nature and cultivation. That the South African native Lucy Kruger has, over the past decade, put down firm roots in Berlin now seems self-evident. With Pale Bloom she releases her seventh album – and, as the title suggests, it is steeped in botanical imagery. Sowing and growing, rain and drought, thickets and forests all serve as metaphors for personal development and coming of age. Alongside these motifs, Kruger draws on biblical references – for something, at least, a religious upbringing must be good – and allows associative strands to unfold.
Together with her Lost Boys, Kruger weaves together a range of influences: from darkly crackling folk rock in the vein of PJ Harvey to cinematic art rock and bruised slowcore, through to electronic drone experiments such as »Animal / Symbol«. What emerges are tangible, carefully wrought songs that bear her unmistakable signature: pared-back yet atmospherically dense, abrasive yet melodic. The modest means at her disposal are deployed with such care and imagination that the album’s closing line – »Don’t forget me« – should be easy enough to honour. Some gardeners argue that fruit grown under ideal conditions lacks flavour, that sweetness and aroma only emerge through adversity. Seen in that light, the less than carefree aspects of Lucy Kruger’s childhood may well have shaped the particular intensity of her songwriting.
