downUnderworld moves with intention, letting moments of energy and reflection exist side by side.
Annabelle Scobie’s downUnderworld is a hushed expedition through the shadowed corridors of feeling, an evocative mosaic of longing, memory and quiet revelation. Released on the first day of a new year, the seven-track suite unfolds like a dreamscape stitched from fragments of experience, each song a lantern-light illuminating a different corner of the emotional terrain she treads.
Recorded with the intimacy of someone speaking directly into your ear, downUnderworld feels like a diary set to melody; tender yet unflinching. The opener “hallway light” casts its glow like a greeting from the deep, its brevity and warmth inviting listeners to step fully into Scobie’s world. From there, songs such as “my only wish” pulse with an urgent energy, kinetic, restless, yet grounded in melodic clarity, like the first rush of emotion we’re all too intimate with.
Across the record, Scobie shows a strong sense of control over mood and flow. “kissing” brings a feeling of forward motion, carrying a quiet urgency that lifts the album without breaking its intimacy. It feels immediate and open, capturing emotion as it happens. On the other hand, “scar” slows everything down, offering a more inward-looking moment that adds weight and depth to the project. These shifts are natural; shaping the album’s emotional arc. “the end”, with its slow, settling cadence, closes the journey not as a conclusion but as a soft exhale, an acceptance of what came before. downUnderworld moves with intention, letting moments of energy and reflection exist side by side, and in doing so creates a record that feels cohesive, thoughtful, and deeply human.
What makes downUnderworld truly compelling is how Scobie maps the universal onto the personal. Her lyrics and melodies are portals; each track a moment where the listener can recognize their own heartbreak, joy, nostalgia and hope reflected back with crystalline clarity. In a short span, she creates a world that feels lived in; breathing and undeniably real.
At once intimate and expansive, downUnderworld is a quiet revelation, a reminder that sometimes the most profound journeys are the ones we take inward.
Words by Ify Obiebu