Jemima Coulter - 'Dancing With Lara'
Jemima Coulter’s new single ‘Dancing With Lara’ gives their listeners the permission to be - finding liberation in release and wonder is sometimes all it takes.
Jemima Coulter has released their liberating new single, ‘Dancing With Lara’. With a debut album dropping July 29th, this single serves as a breath-taking insight to what we can expect: Jemima’s world - one bursting with colour, character and wonder.
Citing Justin Vernon as an influence, Coulter definitely leans into that characteristic sound with playful synths and layered choral vocals. With associations to artists like Novo Amor, S. Carey and Squirrel Flower, Coulter has solidified the identity of their solo sound with an undeniable strength and surety.
The upcoming album, in their own words, represents a disillusionment with the restrictions of modern life. The single fits right into this, speaking of freedom, wonder and release in aimlessness. On the single, Coulter says, “‘Dancing with Lara’ is a painting of wandering around the streets of Marseille and simultaneously thinking about people far away. It finds me reminiscing about the feelings of freedom that existed, a feeling that I dreamt about a lot, moving around with no plan only to be apart. That feeling and longing for a kind of existence like that, which I don’t think can be real, seems to be one of the only things that really lingers in my brain.”
The lyric “I feel like myself again” seeps through a wondrous build-up of synths and piano. Refreshing and unexpected, Coulter makes the point that being aimless and not having a clear final destination can be the most liberating of all. Perhaps right on theme, the delicate yet detailed instrumentation settles to subtlety right before erupting into an eclectic burst of sound. Like a release from the expectations and restrictions of our modern world - the track mirrors this in every way.
In a society that seemingly attempts to encourage sameness, Jemima Coulter’s music gives us the go-ahead we all crave - a trailblazer in difference and liberation that we all ache to see. If ‘Dancing with Lara’ is anything to go by, we can be sure that their debut album, Grace After A Party, will be a stellar debut.
Catch Jemima Coulter on tour this summer, supporting Novo Amor.
Words by Rachel Min Leong
