She’s been at it for more than a decade now, making country music in her native Australia, where she’s been honored with an array of awards since her 2012 debut, a five-song EP titled Autumn Lawn. Her last long player, 2020’s Fallow, won the ARIA Award for Best Country Album, for instance, as well as five CMAA Golden Guitar Awards (including Album of the Year), and the AIR Award for Best Country Album.
If you don’t know what those acronyms stand for, no worries—the only thing we non-Aussies should know: Lumsden is authentic country, having grown up on a farm in rural New South Wales, and her modern country sound shifts by degrees dependent on the needs of the song. Some are folk-tinged story-songs while others embrace so-called country-pop and a few even flat-out rock. Perhaps most importantly, she has a novelist’s knack for employing specifics in lyrics, which help bring the listener into her world.
Hey Dawn opens with the harmony-laden title track, which digs into the promise that each new day brings. “Great Divide,” in part, shares her life philosophy while also celebrating living in the mountains. “You’ll Be Fine” offers encouragement for pushing past self-imposed boundaries, while “Ugly Flowers” unearths memories of childhood and loved ones, and of how life rolls on no matter what.
“When I Die” was inspired by a fan’s post-mortem wish—he’s already booked Fanny and band to play his funeral. There’s a bit of a Nick Lowe quality to the guitars and tune. Now that I think about it, it’s somewhat of an oxymoron set to song given that it’s a relatively joyous exercise about a downbeat topic. (FYI, said fan is in good health; he’s just sure about how he wants to leave this mortal coil.) The next track, “Lucky,” finds Lumsden singing in a high register while exploring the hypocrisy that is rife in life, when “luck” is often little more than birthright. Accented by ringing guitars and a catchy chorus, meanwhile, “Soar” showers the listener with her (perceived) faults before moving into bliss. The equally uptempo “Millionaire” recalls how, as a teen, “10 bucks made you feel rich.”
She lowers the beats per minute with “Enjoy the Ride,” a dispatch about embracing life’s imperfections (“I like the idea of finding a little solace/in the things that surround us, it is a work in progress”) and closes the album with “Stories,” which reflects on how the stories we tell ourselves—and each other—shape not just who we are, but who we become.
In short, Hey Dawn is well worth many plays. Its story-songs, upbeat choruses and philosophical musings will leave you feeling richer in spirit for having listened.
The Old Grey Cat 