On her debut for Past Inside the Present, UK-based Hadley Roe performs a vivid sonic alchemy with a modest setup of electric guitar, synth, and software – but The Inner Garden’s beating heart lies in the immense healing force that Roe summons from the quiet corners of her countryside home and its surroundings. She is publicly candid about her ongoing struggles with mental health, and the album’s eight pieces draw much of their inspiration from unresolved trauma, self-imposed isolation, and intensive personal reflection. At turns the results are melancholy, blissful, shadowy, and comforting, but above all, The Inner Garden overflows with richly nuanced beauty.
Opening piece, “The First Day”, offers a warm embrace in a foggy shroud, setting a serene tone with delicate harmonic details along the fringes of a soft drone. The glowing low end of “Summer Rain” crests under its main chords, while a breathy whisper breezes back and forth, flickering glitches emerge alongside a solemn piano line, and the piece shapeshifts like a charcoal sky, illuminated by rumbling bursts of heat lightning. “No One Ever Touched Me Before You” navigates a corridor by candlelight, its mix favoring a womb-like sense of closeness, until streaks of velvety synth build into one of the album’s most engrossing crescendos, highlighting Roe’s ability to use patience as a deeply affecting technique.
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