Former GW student Eliza McLamb is releasing her debut album this Friday, Jan. 19. Going Through It is a 12-track album that covers McLamb’s relationship with her mom, insecurities within a romantic relationship with both toxic and loving partners, and the complexity of womanhood, friendship and self-worth. In a previous conversation with the podcaster and musician, she teased that her full-length debut would be emotionally heavier than previous EPs and fuller, rockier in sound. McLamb allowed WRGW an advance of the album for review and we can confirm she delivered.
Throughout the album, McLamb’s writing and delivery are smart and play with the listener, making you pause and wait for a beat or the last word of a phrase. Some songs almost run they’re so fast, moving through chorus and verse smoothly and without breaks (“Anything you Want,” “Mythologize Me”) while others stay within the stereotypical “sad indie” pace. Most songs are very full sounding, some with string arrangements (“Just Like Mine,” “Strike”) and others with notable production, often incorporating background sounds like kids in a playground (“Crybaby”) or croaking frogs (“Bird”). McLamb has never been as open in her songwriting, prominently touching on her relationship with her mom, detailing moments where her caretaker’s bipolar disorder forced them to switch roles in the mother/daughter dynamic.
Even when McLamb falls into the overused indie pop/rock sound, she comes through with lyrics that leave you out of breath. Her storytelling and songwriting can be relatable, lending the songs an air of healing or, rather, offering a companion to those who need one. The album bleeds self-awareness – “I’m a hard person to unravel / I’m an endless ball of yarn / I’m a labyrinth in the dark / I’m an outlet mall parking lot / I’m an Everclear on the rocks” (“Anything You Want”) – but also control, McLamb is telling her narrative, as painful and traumatic as it may be, in her own way, healing alongside her listener.
“16,” is a landmark on the album. It splits the A and B sides with visceral and flinch-worthy lyrics and stands out production-wise. McLamb sings as if she’s underwater – a possible nod to the album’s cover art – drowning the song in melancholy and discomfort.
A standout track to me, and one I wish was released as a single, “Bird” takes the listener through a complicated relationship with a sound loosely reminiscent of Clairo’s “Zinnias.” McLamb takes multiple breaths in the song, delivering the lyrics in a careful, quieter tone conveying doubt and hurtfulness. The song has a swing to it, it’s percussively interesting and easy to listen to even as she questions caring and being cared for. “You’re everybody’s baby bird / They worry about you still / All that I need, I’ll find it in me / I’ll try, you know, I will,” she sings.
The record’s highlights invoke the sensation of a familiar embrace. The lead up to the chorus in “Crybaby” offers cathartic solace, and the rest of the song carries the comfort of talking to your favorite person all afternoon. It’s a sweet tune that builds over the four minutes, her voice dragging, dripping with emotion by the end, “It’s okay to cry, baby.”
McLamb is bold with her word choice, often opting for big words which she meters smartly in her delivery, making them stand out in a phrase or chorus. There’s an air of pretentiousness in her vocabulary yet it surprisingly works, especially if you buy into her persona. McLamb is a pop culture fanatic and Substack internet critic, and the nuances of her lyrics reflect not only her cleverness but also a thoughtfulness and seeming comfort with sharing vulnerable aspects of her past and present life.
Ever since Phoebe Bridgers’s Punisher there’s been a slew of songwriters putting out music that’s vulnerable and personal (“sad girl indie”) using ultra-specific metaphors and scene descriptions on top of muted instrumentals. McLamb sometimes falls into that category, not as a copy-cat “songstress,” a title she has endearingly given herself, but rather as a product of the industry she’s breaking into. She once wrote that discomfort is “the vehicle which takes us from one stage of life to the other, from emotion to emotion, from ‘something’ into ‘anything.’” Her debut delivers a project that’s tender and vulnerable–a carefully constructed playground for her discomfort–and, even when the music falls into the stereotypical traps of the current indie sound she pulls through with her lyricism and just enough specificity that can provide relatability and personability to the listener.
Going Through It comes out on Friday. Check out McLamb’s spring tour schedule here, including a stop at D.C.’s Union Stage.
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