Australian indie folk artist Isabel Rumble takes us track-by-track through her tender and graceful sophomore album ‘Hold Everything Lightly,’ a gently breathtaking meditation on change, self-acceptance, and the quiet strength found in vulnerability. In conversation with Atwood Magazine, the Australian singer/songwriter reflects on womanhood, renewal, and the heart’s enduring capacity to soften, let go, and begin again.

Stream: “Soften” – Isabel Rumble

“I will soften into change.”

The lyric lands like a breath released, a gentle vow of surrender. It’s the heart of Isabel Rumble’s Hold Everything Lightly, a record that moves through life’s quiet revolutions with grace, tenderness, and unflinching honesty. Gentle yet powerful, the album invites listeners to lean into vulnerability as a form of strength; to embrace softness not as fragility, but as resilience. Through ten beautifully wrought songs, Rumble transforms change into catharsis and reflection into renewal – each note a reminder that healing can hum softly and still move mountains. It’s a collection that feels less like a statement and more like a raw reckoning – a return to oneself.

Hold Everything Lightly - Isabel Rumble — Hold Everything Lightly – Isabel Rumble

A thousand women inside me
A thousand wombs to guide me on
I’m tending to the mending
I know good things will come
from the seeds I’ve sown
See upcoming pop shows
Get tickets for your favorite artists

I will soften into change
I will blossom from the
grace of my mistakes

I’ll dance my way through the night
To the dark side of the moon
Tell me I know myself without you

– “Soften,” Isabel Rumble

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering Hold Everything Lightly, the breathtaking sophomore album from Australian singer/songwriter Isabel Rumble (out October 24). Recorded in the serene surroundings of the Windsong Pavilion on New South Wales’ Sapphire Coast, the album traces the tender spaces between loss and acceptance, womanhood and selfhood, stillness and surrender. Rooted in her own brand of indie folk sound, Rumble captures an intimacy that feels both grounded in earth and open to sky. From the murmured ache of “Soften” and “Better Half of Me” to the quiet fire of “Digesting History,” her music is a world of deep listening, a place to rest, release, and remember.

“Hold Everything Lightly continually guides me back to the heart,” Rumble tells Atwood Magazine. “It feels like a pocketful of my truth, quiet and eternal. The songs that make up the record arrived over a few years, and capture a big time of change and transition in my life. I was moving into this music career, moving out of a long and beautiful relationship – there were many natural conclusions and new beginnings. Within all this change, I had bursts of creative energy that brought courage to delve deeper into my motivations and be more vulnerable with my writing. The most beautiful thing about making this record was returning to my home valley, with the opportunity to record in the incredible Windsong Pavilion at Four Winds on New South Wales’ Sapphire Coast. We were tucked away in the bush behind the wintry bay, and the record inevitably became intimately connected with the land. Not just any land but the land that grew me. It was a really special time recording with a small team of musicians I have grown up with and found inspiration from as long as I can remember; producer Heath Cullen, bassist and backing vocals Robyn Martin, and engineer Ben Fowler.”

That intimacy – a sense of coming home – ripples through every song.

Rumble’s connection to place feels inseparable from her connection to self, as though nature itself steadies her voice. In returning to the land that raised her, she also returns to something elemental within: The heart’s own stillness. It’s a natural evolution from her 2023 debut album, Bird Be Brave, which first introduced her as a luminous and introspective new voice in Australian folk – and now finds its quiet continuation in the deep stillness and inner clarity of this second chapter.

“I feel this record is a huge leap for me, from a debut that was in so many ways very innocent and hopeful,” she reflects. “Whilst Hold Everything Lightly contains that hope still, it is unafraid to go to the darker places, curious at what discoveries can be made there. It was recorded very differently to Bird Be Brave, which was tracked over time. After touring quite a lot I had experienced the vulnerability and connection of the live show, and felt this is where the magic was alive for my music. I wanted to capture that in my next album. So the bones of this record were captured in one week, with as much as we could recorded live in that beautiful space. The rest, harmonies and instrumental layers, were fleshed out over the following months. But I think the essence of the record lies in that container of time at Four Winds, and when I listen I am transported back there. Because of this it feels fuller somehow, with the inevitable live recording quirks and unrepeatable moments that make it so human. Certainly it is a lot more personal – it traverses an internal landscape I was definitely not equipped to travel in the first record. On a technical level it explores more intricate guitar playing, introduces piano to my writing, and has more depth and bravery to the vocals.”

That bravery carries through even in its stillest moments. Where Bird Be Brave introduced a luminous young songwriter, Hold Everything Lightly reveals an artist grounded and self-possessed – willing to explore fragility as an act of faith.

“I wanted to create something that felt like a warm hug,” she says. “I hoped it would open a space of connection with our quieter sides, a time of gentle reflection. I hoped I would reconnect with my home, returning this time with the music. I wanted to contribute through songwriting to conversations that were abundant in my life around being a woman in this world. I wanted it to be a smooth, slow and steady stress-free process in gathering the assets, merch and promotion, and, being an independent musician, of course that’s probably the only thing that didn’t quite match my vision!”

Even in her laughter, there’s lightness – that same balance between sincerity and surrender that threads through the record’s title.

“A significant teacher of mine casually offered these words in a conversation,” Rumble recalls. “They resonated deeply for me at the time, and I knew then they would be a song. It turned out ‘hold everything lightly’ would be a thread that connects every song on the record. Each song traces a moment along that thread – from the ending of a love story, to the beginning of a new, the darker moments of hard truths learned, the soft and fiery knowings that come with initiation into womanhood, and throughout it all the lightness of letting go. These three words reminded me over and over again, as I began singing them around the world, of the paradoxical dance between preciousness and impermanence in all things.”

That paradox is what gives Hold Everything Lightly its strength. Rumble writes of transformation not as a rupture, but as a rhythm – a pulse that softens, breaks, and rebuilds. On “Soften,” she dances between pain and grace, singing, “I will soften into change, I will blossom from the grace of my mistakes.” “Better Half of Me” and “Lonely Hunter” shimmer in this same light: Songs of love that hold tenderness without losing clarity, love without losing self.

When asked which lyrics feel most personal, she doesn’t hesitate: “Oh I have quite a few! You can choose if you wish… ‘I will soften into change’; ‘This is more than the end, we just love different’; ‘Hold everything lightly’; ‘Return me to the deep, as in love as in sleep’; ‘Time is a teacher and time tells the truth and time will hold you too’; ‘Gone and you will take my love into the real life’; ‘Deep down beneath our feet the trees do reach until their roots die, entwined.’” Every one of these phrases is its own small meditation – the kind that stays with you long after the record ends.

“Each song lets me feel and express in such different ways,” she adds. “I love to play ‘Hold Everything Lightly’ and ‘Soften.’ ‘Born Again’ is a beautiful solo moment I feel holds something special, and I am the most content about how ‘Better Half of Me’ and ‘Lonely Hunter’ turned out.”

For those looking for an entry point, “Soften” serves not only as the record’s lead single and opening track, but also as its beating heart. “It encapsulates so much of this record,” Rumble offers. “It is surrender, resilience, and transformation. The quiet strength in letting go and the deep wisdom of the body, it talks to ancestral wisdom and cycles, and the darkness that holds the light. Soften also introduces an evolved sound, led by electric guitar and leaning into a more grungy feel. It just felt right to put this one first, its repeating lyric ‘I will soften into change’ a bookend with the closing track’s mantra ‘hold everything lightly.’”

Across the record, Rumble’s contentment feels earned – a peace found on the far side of upheaval. It’s the sound of an artist who has lived deeply, listened closely, and come home to her own voice.

“We are all intricately connected by our shared human experience, and nature is always there to hold us,” Rumble shares. “I hope one may come away with a spark of connection to something quieter, gentler, more connected than the busy world we so often inhabit. I feel the journey has only just begun for me with this one – time and shows will tell how it lands properly within and without. So far it has gifted me a further settling into the workings of a career in music. Also deeper connections with listeners who resonate with the lyrics and the sound we have captured. I’m curious how it will weave its way out there now.”

Hold Everything Lightly is that rare record that feels like a conversation with the soul. It asks nothing of you but stillness – to listen, to breathe, to let go. As Rumble herself says, “The heart knows.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Isabel Rumble’s Hold Everything Lightly with Atwood Magazine as she takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her sophomore album!

— —

:: stream/purchase Hold Everything Lightly here ::

:: connect with Isabel Rumble here ::

— —

Stream: ‘Hold Everything Lightly’ – Isabel Rumble

Isabel Rumble · Hold Everything Lightly

:: Inside Hold Everything Lightly ::

— —

“Soften”

“Soften” is a longing to return to the knowing of the body, to trust in the quiet strength we may draw from our ancestors, and a moment to let go and breathe.

“Better Half of Me”

““Better Half of Me” is a balm for aching hearts. A quiet moment in honour of true love’s vulnerability and strength.

“Lonely Hunter”

Driven by a sweeping momentum of guitar and cello, “Lonely Hunter” is an intoxicating whirl of lyrical desire, tenderness, and surrender.

“Knowing”

Winding and reflective, “Knowing” traces the delicate line between intimacy and distance, where a deeper love is just out of reach. The first song I wrote before the concept of an album had even arrived, “Knowing” holds the key to the story that unfolds throughout this record.

“Room to Grow”

“Room to Grow” is both an ending and a beginning. The lyrics convey a diary-like entry; open and honest in uncovering a bittersweet freedom that was emerging from the courage of letting go, trusting that love endures even as the heart learns to release. This song tumbled out of me all in one go, it had a few more verses originally, which I stripped back in the end to convey what it needed to say. It arrived after a long phone call with an old friend whose consoling words became the chorus: ‘There’s beauty in loving, there’s beauty in letting go.’ It feels like the most literal and honest song I have written of love.

“Born Again”

Written with an open heart, knowing for the first time its delicate terrain, learning to tread with care and trust in self. I wrote “Born Again” beside a flowing river, nature reminding me of my alive-ness, of my ability to feel from the heart, of our fluid adaptability in the face of challenge and change.

“I Danced”

“I Danced” wanted to be seen. It felt fearless and came with an energy that refused to be contained. It dances between past wounds and future hopes, to liberate and stoke the fire of the present.

“Digesting History”

“Digesting History” challenges a patriarchal paradigm. It questions how stories have been told over time and whose voices they carry. For my songwriting, this one is firm and explicit in questioning the world we have built around us, through the lens of womanhood. “Digesting History” has a grit that reaches beyond just observing the world, instead placing myself firmly within it with a longing to be heard. It is a song for the cycles and one for the witches. It is my call to untame.

“You’ll Sing”

“You’ll Sing” is carried by voice and piano, inner-fire and silence. In writing “You’ll Sing” I realised that at the core of what I do is the singing, simple yet powerful and ancient expression. I realised the trust it has taken to let my voice be heard. It feels like a full-circle rumination on self-expression, finding truth under the night sky.

“Hold Everything Lightly”

Bringing the record to a close, the title track “Hold Everything Lightly” gathers the album’s tenderness into a mantra of release, reflection, and return to the heart. Having played this song to audiences all around the world now, I understand the power of these words, offered to me by a teacher, especially when sung all together. They speak to something we all carry, a truth that resonates wherever I go; there is healing and power in letting go, paving the way to connection. Every time I share this song, it reminds me that we are all part of a collective search for lightness, belonging and peace.

— —