Roe: That’s When the Panic Sets In - Navigating the currents of anxiety

The debut record from Roisin Donald partly explores the vast landscape of anxiety, and what it can teach. Underpinned by a sense of self-interrogation, Donald takes us through her negotiation with many preoccupations, from a short attention span (the richly realised Scared of Being Lonely) to raking over the coals of a relationship breakdown (New Behaviours). Elements of brass are dotted all around the record, elevating the work with each appearance, but it is really the piano-led compositions, like Cold Feet, Kidding Yourself and Cut My Teeth that complement Donald’s curling, confiding voice, which itself can veer from strident to tentative.

I Dare You is a jaunty call to use anger constructively, and is met in sensibility by the warm guitar on In the End which brings its own sense of verve. But there is a definite melancholic streak that weaves throughout most of the record, wrapping itself around pale ballad A Temporary Thing, the self-reflective indie-pop of I Can Change and the slow-moving minimalism of One in a Million.

Album closer Alarms channels a lighter optimism amid the crisis, bringing to mind elements of Let It Die-era Feist. It is an immersive composition, with its own kind of sweep, about trying to make peace with your panic, and forgiving yourself when you can’t. It will be interesting to see where Roe takes it next.