With 11 tracks of raw, vulnerable, and honest emotion, Charlie Lane is sharing her debut album ‘I’m Okay Now But I Wasn’t’ with the world on Friday, October 18, and with it, a piece of her soul.
As a queer and disabled artist, Charlie Lane has a unique perspective on the world that she’s proud to share, and this perspective has fostered a base of passionate fans. With her iconic fusion of devastating lyrics and energetic music, she’s carved out her niche in the Melbourne music scene.
This album is a beautiful onslaught of undiluted emotion. Beginning the album strong with Gold Drips, Charlie Lane takes this track to reclaim her voice. An energetic, passionate chorus is partnered with pondering verses with themes about setting herself free. It builds up with groovy basslines with crunchy electric guitar riffs towards the end of the song as Charlie grows more confident and comes into herself.
Ginger follows next. Her first song, written at just 16, with beautiful string instruments and charming gospel backing vocals, is now featured as the second song on her debut album years later. It’s a testament to how far she’s come.
The third song on the album is Fifty Shades of Bruised. With acoustic guitar, strings, ghostly backing vocals, and Louis Spencely on tambourine, this is a sad, forlorn song with an alt-country feel. It explores how she doesn’t know if she deserves the love she gets. It questions whether she should embrace it or push it away.
Following that is Dance With You, a nervous but hopeful song, overthinking a rejection that hasn’t happened yet. With retro, sparkling synth, warm guitar, and yearning vocals, this song is an anxious, almost teenaged plea to be noticed by a crush.
The next song, Gone, is a devastating song about itching to end it all in a place where no one knows you, built on a cheerful beat. This song is a bitter pill to swallow, coated in a layer of sugar.
I Hate Me builds on that theme of internalised emotions, dwelling on self-hatred set to soft drums and gentle guitar riffs that melts into a pop-punk, high-energy song and back as the song morphs that self-hatred stays.
I Need Sleep is another forlorn song, soft and sad, based on her experience in a shitty share-house full of arguments and fighting that kept her awake. The synth builds up, but it’s taken back to just guitar in the final verse to play on how this sort of thing can always come back.
Following that is Tears. Charlie says that this is the toughest song she’s ever written – she never planned to release it in the first place. It explores her experiences with domestic abuse.
The next song was written during the COVID lockdowns. Walls is about the agoraphobia that she developed, where everything was terrifying to her, and she felt like she had to shut herself away. The song itself is gentle, with reserved guitar and beautiful mournful vocals.
Then, Why Aren’t You Listening? was written about being the black sheep even though she echoes the qualities of her parents and how being raised in a broken home and carrying that generational trauma affects her even to this day. The guitar and drums are bittersweet but catchy enough to tap your foot to.
I Can’t Do Much offers a gentle, positive end to the album; the song is built up on a groovy riff and beat that shifts to a more punk with amped-up guitar and drums, then shifts to retro synth and an 80’s rock vibe. It makes this song an upbeat end to the album, highlighting positive nihilism– she can’t do much, so she might as well enjoy what she can.
This final track is a careful piece of music, worked on gently by a group of musicians who helped Charlie bring it together. Because of Adam Heath, Rohan Sforcina, Jasmine Johnston, Louis Spencely and Jet Kalt, Charlie’s immensely proud of what this song turned out to be.
‘I’m Okay Now But I Wasn’t’ was a special experience for Charlie Lane, getting to collaborate with her friends to create the most authentic debut album possible.
With thanks to KICK PUSH PR
