Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Natalie Royal engages us with her new indie folk album of love songs with some jazz influence: Harbinger. Having recorded the album at The Bomb Shelter, Royal sings of her feelings towards her father’s death, the grievances of love and the unexpected arrival of love.

With producer Ryan McFadden, Royal experiments with reshaping the sounds of live instruments and vocal harmonies, concocting a grand outpour of multi-layered sensations in her music. The added instrumentation of strings and brass provide another depth to her lyrics, as with “Let Me Let You Go,” where the saxophone echoes her heart’s wishes in a ghostly, ethereal manner.

Most beautifully, “Darling, Don’t” showcases Royal’s yearningly hopefully expression, recorded in one live take: Royal’s voice possesses a docile and effervescent quality and her intricate vocal turns are controlled and effortless, almost like a deliberate sigh in the midst of heartbreak.

Tracks such as “Misery Love Company, Too,” “It’s Funny How” and “Supernova” solidify this record’s maturity and potential.

Harbinger is definitely an album which captures the modernity of love within a young lover’s heart, and we highly recommend that you stream it, exclusively, below: