Mariecke Borger has spent two decades building a career around quiet, intimate songwriting, from her 2013 debut “Through My Eyes” through 2020’s Ireland-inspired “Bright Sky,” a journey that’s taken her from the Veluwe woods where she grew up all the way to the storied stages of Amsterdam’s Paradiso, picking up session and collaborative work with acts like Willow Garden, Casual Hillbillies, Tangarine, and Minco Eggersman along the way. Now based in Kampen, she’s back with “Unravel,” both the title track and the name of her third album, out October 16th, and it finds her turning that same intimacy toward something more unsettling than usual.
Unravel
The song grew out of a specific fear, the one that shows up once two people have grown so close that their lives have effectively knitted together. Borger has described it as a deeply personal song about the frightening side of needing someone, the way love and friendship can leave you wondering whether you’re still strong enough on your own once someone else has become that essential to you. The lyric turns that anxiety into a repeated question, asking what happens to two people once their hearts have become that entangled, and whether pulling apart is even possible without losing something in the process.
Musically, the track draws on Borger’s usual touchstones, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor, landing squarely in folk and Americana territory. It’s an easy, unhurried listen, built to let her voice carry the storytelling clearly rather than getting buried under production. That plainspoken delivery ends up being exactly what the song needs, since the questions at its center work better asked directly than dressed up.
The full album runs ten tracks and reportedly came together during a short, intensely productive stretch of autumn inspiration at the piano, later shaped over the following year with her husband, multi-instrumentalist Floris de Vries, who co-produced and recorded the project, continuing a partnership that’s carried through since “Bright Sky.” “Heartbeat,” the album’s second single, digs into a related but distinct idea, Borger has talked about the song as a realization that the answers you’re looking for don’t always come from outside advice, but from trusting your own instincts and actually listening to yourself for once. Between the two songs, “Unravel” reads less like a collection of singles and more like a single continuous thought about connection, self-trust, and where one ends and the other begins.
Final Thoughts
“Unravel” is a thoughtful, quietly unsettling piece of songwriting, and it’s a promising signal for what looks like Borger’s most fully realized album yet.
You can find Mariecke Borger on her official website, on Instagram, and on Facebook. Stay tuned to MusicOnTheRox.com for all your music news and reviews.
