‘Being a Girl’ feels more like an autobiography than an album. The folk pop record from 26 year old Los Angeles based singer songwriter Lindsey Ferguson is an intimate and personal uncovering of her own life from 23 to today. Taking her life across the past three years, she’s penned down an ambitious twenty track EP that’s epic in scale and subtle in execution. It starts off with a note, detailing how it begins with a voice note recording called ‘Begin’. But when the album starts to kick into stride, I couldn’t help but feel goose bumps all over me. ‘Kingsman’ starts minimal, with Lindsey’s delicate and hopeful voice cradled by a soft and warm acoustic guitar. But then the drums start to kick in, thundering as her layered vocals begin to grow in scale. Immediately, I was totally and wholly infatuated, eager to hear more and completely fall over for this story.
The musical diary that is ‘Being a Girl’ details a whole lot of everything that range from her time living with her parents in quarantine, more than one heartbreak, her coming to terms with her clinical anxiety and depression, and finally her meeting and engagement to her now fiancé. There’s bouts of acapella, more grandiose folk rock, and a whole host of short filler narrative interlude pieces as well. Ferguson wears many hats throughout the album’s runtime, continually re-inventing herself as she continues to unravel her own life through an intimate and personable record. At the end of the day, ‘Being a Girl becomes an ever evolving story of a young woman trying to navigate her early twenties in shifting environments.
The Pennsylvania based singer-songwriter has had music in her ever since she was just eleven years old. As far as a first major musical project goes, ‘Being a Girl’ is a resounding success. It’s poignant, plaintive, and purposeful all at once. A folk album that’s resplendent in its own style, vibrant in its energy, and eloquent in its emotions. A special one, undoubtedly.