Scrolling through the submissions of reviews waiting to be written, the title of Lener’s song “Can’t Be What You Want Me To Be” caught my eye. It’s a mantra that I’m sure many of us have thought to ourselves when dealing with relationships at some point in our lives: That desperate feeling of trying, but knowing that any effort is futile. So it’s almost comforting when someone makes a song about it, and what Lener came up with truly knocked my socks off and left me traipsing through her discography like a pirate looking for buried treasure.
Clicking upon the Spotify link, I instantly knew that I had to snag this one. The punchy drums immediately grab your attention before the rest of the track acts like a slap to your face. Lener is clever playing with the track’s dynamics. The beginning notes feel like you’re hearing them from a distance before – bang – there’s an explosion of sound happening right in your ear. It’s fun and smart and essentially sums up the whole tune.
The tender vocals – reminiscent of acts including the iconic Courtney Barnett – balance out the loudness of the rest of the instruments, but they sometimes get lost during the choruses. It’s a difficult balance to get right, but it doesn’t detract too much from the beauty of the song. In fact, all it really means is that you have to listen to it again to truly catch what’s being said. And is that so much of a bad thing?
The guitars might just be my favourite part though, as they inject the Munich-based artist’s trademark melancholic grunge-pop into the song with their wavy riffs that lets Can’t Be What You Want Me To Be” truly breathe.
Cementing itself as a tune that gets stuck inside your head after the first chorus, it’s clear to see that Lener has brought her skills from her time as part of indie-pop SweetLemon to developing her own music. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this rising artist.
Written by Madi Briggs
