Mel Taing
Lina Tullgren is a New England kid. She grew up in southern Maine, and she recorded her debut EP, Wishlist, in Jamaica Plain, the vaguely suburban neighborhood at the end of Boston’s Orange Line train. But the singer-songwriter is not exactly a kid anymore, which can be a hard thing for anyone to accept. Insecurity about getting older has inspired a lot of really great songs, and Tullgren’s “Older,” streaming below, is another one.
It’s the second track on Wishlist, which is being re-released later this month by Captured Tracks. You can feel her New England roots across its five unhurried rock songs, each built on smudged strumming and lyrics about summer and dogs and towns by the sea. Prettiest horses they scream out your name/ tell me what you wanted for Christmas, she sings near the end of “Older,” the faintest twang in her voice. It’s full of melancholy, like a knot in your chest. According to an email sent to The FADER, Tullgren thinks it's sad too:
When you're a kid, all you want to do is be old. When you're old, all you want to do is be a kid again. You force yourself to grow up too fast, and then you look at yourself and wish maybe you'd done things differently. But here you are — old and still afraid of monsters, still a kid inside of some awkward body. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make you kind of sad, like you're lamenting someone you knew before.
