A bright light of hopefulness shines from an album that finds promise even when things may look bleak.
“Feels like a lifetime, I’ve been gone so long / But now I’m back again,” Scottish singer-songwriter Ally Kerr opens brightly on ‘Back Again’, the first track on his sixth studio album, “True Nature”. In actual fact, in the grand scheme of things, Kerr hasn’t been away for “so long”, his last album being 2020’s cinematic instrumental “Soundtracks”, but it’s a fair assessment that the past five years have felt like “a lifetime” for a lot of reasons. Still, with “True Nature”, he’s presenting something built around turning the melancholy into light, which sounds like a pretty great way to help process not just the last five years, but the time going forward, too.
Kerr’s voice, light and pleasant, is the perfect fit for an album filled with optimism. “Buddy, don’t you see / You’ve been on a lucky streak, a guarantee / Buddy, let it be / Unlock that peace inside, the master key / You’re home free, you’re home free,” he sings with positivity against cheery acoustic guitar on ‘Lucky Streak’, a song all about finding the joy in what you have now instead of hoping for more. Ever the optimist, on ‘King of Evermore’, Kerr sings that while other may see darkness, he “just see[s] the shadows glow”, while on ‘When You Let It All Fall Away’ he speaks of letting the worry fall from your life, concluding beautifully that, “There’s nothing left but love / When you let it all fall away / From you.”
‘Turn and Run’ builds to something quietly joyous as the gentle rhythm grows to more of a simple wave than a crescendo, all while Kerr tries to force himself to enjoy the present and not always want for more: “If I want to settle down / Should I wait and see / Rein in part of me / To keep on searching for the crown / Just a fool or clown, oh lord / Do I need to turn and run?” ‘Only in This Moment’ shares the familiar theme of appreciating each moment as it happens, while ‘When All I Had Was You’ is a dreamy, string laden affair that looks back wistfully at the innocent beauty of first love.
“When darkness comes you see it through / The light’s in you,” Kerr sings inspiringly on ‘The Light In You’, a piano heavy piece of self-help that builds to something quite anthem-like as it swells. On ‘Fortress’, he moves through the song with ultimate care and delicacy as if to not upset the fragile balance of peace that he’s struck: “In silence, the calm comes / Untainted by fear / Such lightness, so timeless / It’s this I, hold dear.”
Kerr recently reflected on his own personal journey, saying: “I’ve sought a calmer mind, living in the stillness between thoughts, where you’re untroubled. Once you glimpse this peace, you want to stay there.” His words can very easily be applied to “True Nature”, too; it’s not flashy or brash, but once you’ve enjoyed the hope and peace it offers, you might just find yourself wanting to stay longer and longer, having repeated listens whenever you might need a relaxing, 29 minute escape from the everyday.
