Athena Lim has delivered a masterclass in indie-folk-pop with ‘The Last’, the first single lifted from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s intended debut LP.
While she had already offered a taste of her diverse sonic palate with ‘Hello Frances’ — her most recent EP which dropped in June — Lim sketches even more contours of her sound with ‘The Last’.
The track sees Lim return to her fruitful collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist James Atin-Godden, who helps her weave an eclectic vision with experimental flairs.
Opening with whirring synths, chopped vocal samples and an utterly entrancing orchestral section, ‘The Last’ immediately sets the stage for what feels like an ambient and delicate track.
While those more majestic flourishes appear elsewhere throughout the song, Lim pays equal attention to the rustic elements of folk music, with sunny guitar melodies and maraca-like percussion.
These moments, punctuated by sporadic drums, brim with warmth and showcase Lim’s flair for the traditional instrumentation of folk, but it isn’t long before she flits to new sounds.
The orchestral feel of the opening rears its head again on chorus, as guided by twinkly pianos and the delicate yet powerhouse quality of Lim’s vocals.
With so many sounds to explore, it’s Lim’s voice that connects the dots, as she delivers a performance that feels both classically trained and carefree in equal measure.
The versatility of Lim’s sound is again showcased with the introduction of punchier beats in the latter half of the track.
Here, ‘The Last’ transforms into something of a dance track, with foot-tapping rhythms and the kind of melodic line delivery that’s destined for earworm status.
The diverse sounds come together in the song’s closing moments, which combine the folksy guitars, orchestral flourishes and dance rhythms into an anthemic belter of an outro.
To trace so many influences within the context of a single song is no small feat, and Lim pulls it all off without feeling like mish-mash.
Much of this cohesion is owed to the lyrics, which see Lim reminisce on a meet-cute that ultimately leads to a break up and a commitment to moving on.
There’s a tenderness and vulnerability to Lim’s songwriting, as she delivers poetic insights into the courage it takes to come to a place of acceptance for the final time.
“Send me what I’ve asked,” she sings angelically on the climactic pre-chorus, “let’s leave it in the past, and let this be the last goodbye.”
It’s an intimate yet universal tale of love and loss that’s made all the more poignant through the production, as though Lim reaches a moment of post-break up revelry and dances to the beat of her own drum by the track’s end.
We’d already had a preview of Athena Lim’s ability to carve her own sonic lane with ‘Hello Frances’ — the title track of which is a clear standout — but ‘The Last’ stands as a testament to even more unexplored reaches of her sound.
If ‘The Last’ is anything to go by, we’re in for an absolute treat when the rest of the album drops, slated for 2025.
