Local Review: Zoe Stroupe — One Fluid Motion

Zoe Stroupe
One Fluid Motion
Hallwood
Street: 11.07.2025
Zoe Stroupe = Ethel Cain + Laufey + Phoebe Bridgers

Zoe Stroupe’s debut album sounds exactly like its name. One Fluid Motion encapsulates what feels like in late spring/early summer, an early-morning listen. It is the soundtrack to subtle yearning accompanied by a lot of reminiscing. This album feels like how distant memories would sound. There are themes of coming-of-age, navigating the complexities that come with growing older and learning to let things move through you in one fluid motion. 

Stroupe, according to ZoeStroupe.com, is “known for her introspective lyricism and vulnerable delivery.” I can definitely see and hear Stroupe’s introspection present all throughout her debut album.

Lyrics like “Shame is the reason I’m older / Like my mom and my grandma too” from “Shame” and “Put my laundry all wrong / Mixed the whites with the reds / They faded into each other / You’d never know the state they used to be in,” heard in “Didn’t Know Better,” continue to paint the themes of coming-of-age and navigating the complexities that come with it. Lyrics like this really do feel like one fluid motion as it plays.

This album begins with “Limestone, TN.” The track introduces this album’s feelings of nostalgia and reminiscence. A subtle guitar plays in the background of lyrics like “We went to Limestone, Tennessee / It seemed like whiskey and a breeze.” “Limestone, TN” feels deeply sentimental to Stroupe, and I can hear the memories tied to this place through her lyricism. 

I personally found the most connection in the songs “Didn’t Know Better” and “One Fluid Motion.” “Didn’t Know Better” is slow-paced, while communicating feelings exactly as it’s titled: the lack of knowledge, not knowing better, that comes with youth and innocence. The track takes you back to earlier days, evoking nostalgia. “One Fluid Motion” reminded me that “Time moves so slowly / So slowly, but so fast.” It reminded me to live slowly and absorb every moment as it goes through you in one fluid motion. 

If you’re a Phoebe Bridgers, Ethel Cain or Laufey fan, Zoe Stroupe’s One Fluid Motion would fit right into your heavy rotation. For the demographic of slow-paced folk-pop lovers, this album is for you! —Kyra Cortez

Read more local music reviews by Kyra Cortez:
Local Review: Soul Commercial — UnDeR tHe iNfLuEnCe
Local Review: Anaïs Chantal — Recipe

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