Nina Nesbitt – Mountain Music

Mountain Music is Nina Nesbitt’s fourth album and the first to be released on her own label, Apple Tree Records. For the Scottish singer-songwriter whose career began close to a decade ago when she performed Taylor Swift covers on YouTube, this rock-folk record represents a genre-shift.

Anger is Mountain Music’s swirling peak – an ambitious air-punch of a song about fury, hope and power with singalong lyrics: 'I got this anger inside me / It brings me to my knees / Take hold of my heart and set it free'. I’m Coming Home taps into this energy too, a rousing nostalgic slice of small-town romanticism. Some of the record’s quieter moments struggle for attention when sandwiched between these Springsteen-esque driving anthems, but can still offer moments of arresting relief. This is true of the moving What Will Make Me Great, a song which lives in the uncertainty of fresh heartbreak ('Maybe it’ll make sense to me / Maybe this pain was meant for me') and suits its acoustic arrangement.

Most tracks on Mountain Music occupy one of two spaces: anthemic rock balladry or delicate vulnerability over pared back instrumentation. Both areas showcase Nesbitt’s vocals much more than her previous pop-oriented records ever did.

Listen to: Anger, What Will Make Me Great, Pages