Album: Freya Ridings – Blood Orange
For much of Freya Ridings’ second album Blood Orange, the London singer-songwriter is on the lookout. “I still pray somehow that I’ll see you someday/And I will hear you say, ‘Darling, you’re not getting away,’” she sings on second track “Bite Me”, while on the piano-led and string-laden “Face in the Crowd”, she hopes she’ll see her past love in the audience at a show. There are plenty more similarly relatable moments on Blood Orange, an album crafted in lockdown with Ridings deep in heartbreak and then, later, deep in love again. There’s the fear Ridings’ ex has already moved on with another person (“Someone New”), the realisation she might be better off without him (“Happier Alone”), her decision to let go of her anger (“Bitter”) and the tentative joy of letting love in again (“Can I Jump?”).