A singer-songwriter living on NSW's South Coast, Isabel Rumble shares another taste of her forthcoming sophomore album, 'Hold Everything Lightly', that's due mid-spring.
Quietly building a catalogue of indie folk, Americana and alt. country songs the last few years (including her 2023 debut record 'Bird Be Brave'), Isabel has toured both nationally and internationally.
This has led her to share stages with the likes of Lior & Domini, Daniel Champagne, New Zealand's Holly Arrowsmith and Ireland's David Keenan, while being invited to play such events as Port Fairy Folk Festival and Blue Mountains Music Festival.
Rumble's next chapter is the single 'Better Half Of Me'. Rustically fragile, Isabel's husky vocals permeate crushed hope as well as a resilient strength echoing the song's themes that love lives on even when a relationship ends.
An Americana-flavoured slide guitar is a beacon of shininess, eliciting both a mournfulness as well as a balm to move forward. While a dusty acoustic guitar is married to meandering snare drumming that shimmers with grace.
It's heartbreak vocalised, yet the sonic tones offer a quietness to reflect the vulnerability of love, that although lost continues to seep through your pores like a ghost wandering your memories. Overall, it's a contemplative journey that will tangle itself in your emotional core.
"In the process of writing 'Better Half Of Me'," offers Isabel, "I realised that real love doesn't disappear. In fact, its roots can remain entwined beneath our feet and continue to nourish through cycles to come."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (22 August), scenestr is thrilled to premiere 'Better Half Of Me' today. Enjoy.
"This song was written just after releasing my first album, in a liminal space between projects," continues Rumble. "At the time, I was particularly inspired by American folk artists Courtney Marie Andrews and Maya De Vitry whose vulnerability around love and heartbreak let me access something of the same within my own writing.
"My songs were starting to turn more inwards, very much reflecting my personal life at the time and the many transitions that were happening as I began to move into a music career.
"It was also the first time I had properly embraced the season of winter, whilst living for a brief but transformative time in the Blue Mountains in June/ July of 2023.
"The wintry mountains held my internal gaze as I began to let myself be a little more vulnerable in my writing, delving into the internal landscape of love and letting go.
"My producer Heath Cullen and I really heard pedal steel and I am very lucky to have Ben Franz (The Waifs) weave his beautiful playing into this song."
With 'Hold Everything Lightly' to land 24 October, Isabel brings her album to stages this spring, inviting listeners to sit with stillness and welcome softness.
Isabel Rumble 2025 Tour Dates
Thu 30 Oct - Little Lost Bookshop (Blue Mountains)Fri 31 Oct - Local Edition (Sydney)
Sat 1 Nov - Mane & Tales (South Coast)
Thu 6 Nov - Odessas (Ballarat)
Fri 7 Nov - GROW (Surf Coast)
Sun 9 Nov - Brunswick Ballroom (Melbourne)
Thu 13 Nov - Grace Emily (Adelaide)
Sat 15 Nov - Stone Pony (Adelaide)
Sun 16 Nov - Three Brothers Arms (Adelaide Hills)
Wed 19 Nov - Smith's Alternative (Canberra)
Sun 30 Nov - Can You Keep A Secret (Brisbane)
