After suffering personal tragedies Natalie Bergman recorded her debut gospel album ‘Mercy’, an exploration of how a spiritual awakening helped with her grief. On her impressive second album ‘My Home is Not in This World’, she focuses on another personal journey – this time through turbulent romantic relationships towards her finding love and becoming a mother.
Released on Jack White’s Third Man records, the album was produced by her brother Elliot Bergman who she previously collaborated with in the duo Wild Belle. Musically the sound is pure vintage sixties lush pop, sounding like a lost classic Marianne Faithfull would be proud of, with modern lyrics evoking the likes of Lana Del Rey.
The opening track ‘Lonely Road’ is musically shimmering, glossy and gorgeous. Listen closer and you can hear a more subtle darkness, about the problematic nature of certain relationships. The fatalistic, self-destructive streak continues on ‘Gunslinger’, where she sings of falling in love with the wrong type of bad boy. Both the sound and the theme evoke another time and place – a heady rush of nostalgia for a place of innocence and freedom.
On ‘Dance’ she also longs to let go and have a good time, and the music has a suitably disco swish. By the time we reach ‘You Can Have Me’ there is a new found understanding about the reality of love and the soft wistfulness of the music adds to the endearing nature of the song.
The spiritual themes of her first record begin to slowly recur in the second half of this album. First we have the funky, hand clapping hippy dream of ‘My Home is Not in the World Anymore’ where she embraces nature and the mysteries of the universe. Then on ‘Looking for You’ she thanks God for sending her the love of her life, who she met serendipitously, leaving behind the toxic gunslingers of her youth.
Bergman is the niece of late actress Anne Heche, whose death she explores on ‘Didn’t Get to Say Goodbye’. There’s guilt within the lyrics about her struggles to help someone in peril. Family tragedy lingers on ‘Changes’ addressed to a brother, and these personal songs will resonate deeply with those who’ve suffered loss.
On the sweet ‘I’ll Be There For You’ she takes the tempo up and brings us towards the final joyful end of the album. The intimate and beautiful ‘Song For Arthur’ tells of how after the heartbreaking loss of both her parents she found solace in motherhood leading her back to music and hope. She finishes the album with ‘California’, where returning to the sunshine state becomes a heavenly homecoming of peace, tranquility and renewal.
On her previous record the contrast of the religious lyrics with the cool, vintage pop style set her apart from her contemporaries both in indie folk and Christian music. That distinctiveness is perhaps somewhat lost by singing mainly secular songs, but this new album also allows for those who might be put off by the religious themes to step inside her musical world.
Natalie Bergman may sound like a star from another era but on this evidence she is more than just a vintage cosplayer – she has a story to tell and a gorgeous voice that is full of style and substance.
BUY: https://nataliebergman.bandcamp.com/album/my-home-is-not-in-this-world & https://thirdmanstore.co.uk/products/my-home-is-not-in-this-world
UK TOUR: https://www.seetickets.com/tour/natalie-bergman
Interview: https://floodmagazine.com/196906/natalie-bergman-my-home-is-not-in-this-world-feature/
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