On her debut album Vertigo, U.K. singer-songwriter and producer Griff shares a sprawling and resplendent grappling with all the ways life can leave you feeling unmoored and adrift. As she grasps at versions of herself now relinquished to the past and old flames, the budding artist affirms her place amongst pop’s rising stars. Like Caroline Polachek, she possesses vocals dually spellbinding and woeful, and her mercurial sound lends itself to both heart-wrenching ballads and a thrilling synth extravagance. Don’t miss out on seeing her live when she kicks off the U.S. leg of her tour in the fall, which includes a stop at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on October 7th.

A triumphant embrace of the balancing act that comes with being alive

Teetering between conflicting emotions, hopes, and fears, Griff takes note of the precariousness of life’s experiences throughout Vertigo. Yet she also remains vigilant of the fact that eyeing the risk and reward of every choice is a sure way to find yourself alone and without much to live for. The album’s opener and title track wrestles with the hesitations of an ex-lover, one who evidently weighed the outcomes of their commitment and the vulnerability that would entail and opted out. “You’re scared of love, well, aren’t we all?” she asks pointedly, her voice carried by the song’s thunderous clamor of beats and firing synths.

Griff oscillates between the affirmation that a person can’t live in stasis—forever sitting on the precipice—and the reality that some days you’re unable to keep yourself upright, let alone bear the weight of a world or feeling that seems to only crush you. It’s moments like these when you find yourself jealous of the very walls closing in on you for their stalwart ability to hold up your home when you can barely heave your languished heart from room to room.

Subscribe to Grimy Goods newsletter White Font

This article may contain affiliate links, and Grimy Goods may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our independent, fan-powered media network.

Reeling through heartbreak and loneliness, Griff finds her footing

Griff’s journey through Vertigo is defined by her attempts to make sense of and move on from a love that’s fallen apart. There’s a circular reeling to be escaped in the aftermath of any relationship—we naturally cling to memories that have already staled or find ourselves unable to escape sensory reminders. “It’s an endless cycle / Turns me upside-down / Always right behind me / And I don’t know how to shut you out,” she murmurs in the aptly titled “Cycles.”

Through gutting ballads that bittersweetly bid farewell (“Astronaut”) and ones that both lament and reject professions of love that insincerely try to bandage deeper wounds (“19th Hour”), the one constant is Griff’s stunning vocal leaps. They burn luminously with prismatic emotion, reflecting heartbreak, desperation, and, eventually, a liberating renunciation. To stop the spinning, she finds her footing in the very eye of the storm that rages around her.

Cool Gifts for Music Lovers

The best concert earplugs to protect your hearing
This guitar is adorable! Aspiring musician?
Style & Function: Impress friends at your next party

Liberating, shimmering pop that propels, pierces, and leaves you ablaze

That tempest is both emotional and aural—and it takes many different forms and sounds across Vertigo. Even at her most lost, the melodic rush of tracks like “Vertigo” or “Tears For Fun” leaves you feeling breathlessly invigorated, hyperkinetic rhythms impelling you forward through a gauntlet of romantic and existential angst. Hovering within a radiant, glassy space of pop, Griff reveals the cyclical spectrum of heartache and euphoria.

Her ballads leave your heartstrings raw and frayed, but there are also moments when she gilds that pain with a restless urgency, the elastic ecstasy of “Hiding Alone” or “Hole In My Pocket” reminiscing over the parts of herself that have been lost in the separation. But this is a record about learning not to fear the ground that awaits you far below, and for that reason, Vertigo is as jubilant as it is anguished.

With searing honesty, Griff faces the disorienting moments that leave her spiraling, buoyed by the soaring anthemics that glide alongside her gleaming vocals. If you enter Vertigo seeking rapt catharsis, you will undoubtedly find it—along with more than a few favorite tracks—in their electrifying dancefloor energy and poignant ballad intimacy.

Vertigo is available on all streaming platforms. You can see Griff at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Monday, October 7th.