Katie Gavin renders a beautifully complex self-portrait on What A Relief

However, outside of latex bodysuits and campy onstage personas, lead-singer Katie Gavin now hopes to continue the band’s tradition of complex storytelling on her debut solo project.

On the surface, it’s possible that What A Relief might be mistaken as an extended collection of MUNA’s more stripped-down tracks, but it only takes a brief listen to register that these songs are far more concerned with Gavin’s life outside of the spotlight. In fact, it’s clear this is a space she’s crafted to both reveal the dark spots of her past and, more importantly, to reckon with them.

You can’t help but to admire Gavin’s inescapably raw approach to this project. Sheer honesty is burrowed into every line, sometimes even at the cost of lyrical flow. For example, one facet of Gavin’s testimony is concerned with a self-described “moral-scrupulosity”, as illustrated on the aptly named "Sanitised", where Gavin’s “pure, pretty thrills grow stillborn in the air”. This very clash between virtue and intense desire is subtly mirrored through the song’s careful arrangement, full of atonal arrangements and spluttering coughs that echo ominously in the background.

These delicate twists in production only strengthen Gavin’s forays into genres outside of straight pop, with each song paying tribute to the artists closest to her heart. Notes of Alanis Morrisette ring clear on album-highlight "Casual Drug Use", as well the quietly cutting sentiments of Ani DiFranco on "I Want It All". Though most striking is Gavin’s choice to ground her narratives of queer life and love within the stereotypically conservative genres of country and Americana, ultimately calling a for much-needed change within these traditionalist spaces.

Gavin isn’t afraid to shy away from this complicated history, and even stares it in the face on "Inconsolable", the purest cut on the record. Although she initially likens herself to her family line, claiming she also doesn't "know how to be held," her words encourage us to reveal the emotions we usually keep hidden. These habits may run deep within most of us, but only through change can we be released from these cycles. Only then, Gavin assures us, can relief follow.