On my body’s my true north, Australian vocalist, producer, songwriter and musician FELIVAND—aka Felicity Vanderveen—takes her bedroom pop and alternative R&B blueprint and adds warm jazz flourishes (“heartstrings”), ethereal, lo-fi neo-soul (“broad daylight”, “grey area”) and deeply inventive production touches. It’s a record as engrossing and imaginative as you’d expect of one featuring contributions from H.E.R. producer Chris McClenney (“this very thing”) and Kllo collaborator Simon Lam (“hey you”). Thematically, FELIVAND’s second album explores the idea of trusting feeling over thought and being guided by the lessons learned from lived experiences rather than the at times overwhelming and deceptive thoughts swirling around her head. It can be a transformative process—witness “four corners”, in which she expresses her journey in therapy and path to accepting the hidden, heavy and uncomfortable corners of herself, rather than just trying to think her way around them (“I know I really should love/All the four corners”). The bouncy, bass-driven “this very thing” is about refusing to settle for anything that doesn’t feel totally aligned and electric in your body, be it in a romantic relationship or with a friend (“I don’t want anything, if it’s not this very thing”), while “hey you” addresses the emotional fallout of being misled. An album of honesty, vulnerability and growth.
