Album by Marika Hackman

I really loved this one.

It’s a dark, heavy record — built around reckoning with toxic relationships, unresolved family tension, sex, anger, and depression. There’s a sense running through it of someone who doesn’t trust people, but still lets themselves be vulnerable anyway, almost expecting it to go wrong.

What makes it hit is how that perspective is carried through the music. It shifts constantly — grungy, electronic, stripped-down, ambient, orchestral, expansive — but it’s always captivating. Even at its messiest, it pulls you in.

“No Caffeine” is probably the most immediate moment here. It sounds like a hit song. It’s upbeat and catchy, but that masks this oppressive to-do list for keeping yourself together, but the anxiety underneath never really lifts. And the song plays out like a ticking time bomb.

“Hanging” starts as a quiet piano ballad and keeps building, turning into something suffocating and overwhelming. “My heart won’t grow with your fingers down my throat” is a line that is hard to shake off.

“Slime” is another standout, and one of the most uncomfortable listens in the best way. It’s got this groove that could almost pass as a hit, but the imagery is dark and visceral. It reminded me a bit of Peter Gabriel’s “Steam” — something upbeat on the surface, but more complicated and physical underneath. Where sex is primal and messy.

“Please Don’t Be So Kind” might be my favorite. It’s a slow, detailed unraveling of a relationship, full of sharp, painful imagery. It doesn’t rush anything, and that makes it hit even harder.

Elsewhere, the album never really lets up. “The Ground” leans into a more atmospheric space, with a minimal vocal sitting against something much larger and more cinematic. The title track “Big Sigh” feels trapped and heavy. “Blood” turns toxic love into something almost like body horror. “Vitamins” dips into a more glitchy, electronic space and might be the most direct moment of self-loathing here.

“The Yellow Mile” closes things out on a quieter note, looking back with something closer to perspective than pain, with shades of a Fiona Apple-style vocal in its stripped-down approach. It even circles back to the line “gold is on the ground” from earlier in the album, hinting at an acceptance of what was once good before it fell apart.

What really stuck with me is how all of this comes together. The subject matter is heavy, but the music never feels static. It shifts, builds, pulls back, and keeps you engaged the whole way through.

This album landed with me so powerfully that I ended up listening to this three times in a row.

I’d almost call it flawless, if not for the way the Brits pronounce “vitamins.”

Verdict: Masterpiece

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Official Site | Spotify | Bandcamp