After finally grabbing one of the big brass rings for Country songwriter and snagging a publishing deal on Nashville’s Music Row, Stephanie Lambring worked for five years writing songs for others before calling it quits, leaving Nashville and the music world behind. For a while.
She returned to music, this time writing for herself, and put out Autonomy, a critically lauded LP in 2020. Hypocrite, the follow-up, proves the hype was justified and no one deserves to sing her song better than her.
Two powerful songs open the album – “Cover Girl,” about a woman obsessing over her outer beauty while trying to convince herself it doesn’t matter, and “Good Mother,” about a woman having a tough time with the decision she made (for others) and struggling as a result. The theme of telling the hard truths is one that keeps popping up from song to song here. The indie rock “Purity Ring,” in particular is a heart-wrenching ode to evangelical Christianity and the pressure it puts on teen girls to remain virginal.
There is a strong comparison here with some of the more confessional musicians like Phoebe Bridgers and Bright Eyes, but just with a bit of a more Americana slant musically. But along with the hard truths explored on Hypocrite, she also shares important reminders about compassion and going easy on yourself – even if you aren’t measuring up to society’s expectations. You can hear that in a song like “Jasper” and “Hospital Parking.” This album is a reminder that everyone is going through their own personal battles. But the album is so much more; It’s songs about people and things that don’t usually get the focus of songwriters, whether it’s waiting for the call letting you know that your parent died (“Hospital Parking”) or women looking to plastic surgery to try and stave off aging (in the surprisingly beautiful “Filler”).
“They say the things you dislike about yourself are the things you call out the most in other people,” Lambring explained. “And with this album, I wanted to see what would happen if I called myself out instead. I think there’d be a lot more harmony in the world if we could just own up to our own shortcomings and forgive ourselves in the process.”
In calling herself out, she manages to connect her thoughts into relatable struggles so many other people are going through at the same time. It’s a beautiful record that shows Lambring should have been writing for herself all along.
