CCMusic.com

Bells Larsen (they/he/il) started writing their debut album, Good Grief, at the age of nineteen, the start of a hugely transitional time in their life. In the five years since, Larsen has moved across the country, studied philosophy at a small liberal arts college, dropped out, and then moved across the country again. Their life was also put on pause after the sudden death of their first love. "This loss left so many people with so many unanswered questions, myself included. I haven't always arrived at answers to these questions, but songwriting has provided me with a way to at least ask."

The first voice we hear on Good Grief does not belong to Larsen, but to their first love. "Ready?" she asks. As if to answer her, the album begins with an audio recording from 2013 of Larsen and their high school friends singing Sufjan Stevens' song "The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" around a campfire. "When the record starts and my ex says "ready?" there's a part of me that feels like - in some way - she's asking grown-up-me if I'm "ready" to share my songs about grief now."

Good Grief captures a coming-of-age story - of an artist and of a human being - as they try to navigate the terrain of their existence and that of those around them. It's an experience of their loss but also honours the person that was lost to them. The record closes with a reprise of the "Wasps" audio recording, marrying the past and present as the old voice memo slowly fades into a newer one. Present-day Larsen sings, "I can tell you I love her each day": a testament to the fact that their grief is- finally-good.

1 Wasps

2 Tongue Tied

3 Double Aquarius

4 Teenage Love

5 Sweater Weather

6 Say Something

7 Atlantic Love/A Long & Distant Wave (feat. Devarrow)

8 The Geography Of Leaving

9 Cara

10 Ribcage

11 People Who Mean So Much To Me

12 Wasps (Reprise)