Apple Music

The fluttering album cover of “patching” perfectly encapsulates the theme of metamorphosis with a graceful, imperfect butterfly.

After finishing any film or television show, I tend to follow the same pattern: A. log the film on Letterboxd (if applicable), and B. scour TikTok for a barrage of doomscroll-worthy edits.

If you don’t fall within the range of my generation, or just don’t know what an edit is, it can be described as a short fan-made video that highlights a specific person or theme using effects, transitions, and most importantly: a relevant and melodious song.

I have tried (and failed) to create many TikTok edits. Unfortunately, the art of CapCut is much more difficult than it seems. So, instead of spending hours screen recording YouTube clips and mastering effects, I prefer to “watch” imaginary edits while listening to music. As I finished a grand total of eight movies and two television shows over winter break, my plane rides were spent watching a slew of these make-believe edits, all following one formula: patching by runo plum.

Under her artistically uncapitalized alias, plum has released a multitude of singles and EPs since 2021. Patching, the artist’s debut album, is almost two months old, having been released in mid-November of 2025. I am forever heartbroken that I didn’t discover the album until snow dusted our roofs and terrorized our streets, but I am grateful that plum appeared on my Apple Music discovery channel nonetheless.

Most of the tracks begin with a simple acoustic strum pattern, sometimes accompanied by a lead guitar line, and a drumline that appears in the first verses or chorus. This delayed drumline is very fitting for plum’s style of music; however, it becomes a little repetitive over the course of the album. Seeing as this is a common practice in indie genres, this doesn’t isolate plum as a “bad” artist—rather, it places her among many singer-songwriters who use this method to establish familiarity and play with dynamics. This small facet doesn’t capitalize on the album’s overall quality, but the fact that all but three of the tracks feature suspended drums (two of which omit drums entirely) seems overly formulaic rather than expressive.

This isn’t nearly as annoying as the indie tendency to never capitalize anything, but that complaint deserves an editorial in itself.

Overall, this mosquito of a drum pattern is eclipsed by plum’s honest lyrics, lofty vocals, and the occasional appearance of a banjo. I relish banjo lines in indie and folk music, so the occurrence of the bluegrass instrument in “Elephant” and “Pond” was very satisfying. “Pond” is one of the more popular tracks on the album and in my fictional edits. As the chorus ascended, I watched Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) stand alone at homecoming, and fall, lonely and restless, onto a random snowy yard. Lyrics like “Bathing in a pond, there’s no point getting clean / If this is something that will always be with me / It’d be different if there was someone to hug / Or someone here to love” reminded me that “we accept the love we think we deserve.”

“Elephant,” the other track featuring the banjo, became a favorite not just for the twangy stringed instrument but also for plum’s powerful singing. Throughout most of the album, plum uses a very soft, intimate voice, similar to Clairo or Phoebe Bridgers. In songs like “Elephant,” plum proves she has pipes, with her vocals reaching an intense climax in the chorus. The achingly genuine lyrics of the chorus make it even more enjoyable; I almost tear up as plum laments, “I’m a hoarder / Refusing to let go / Even though it serves no purpose anymore.”

Another personal favorite was “Lemon Garland,” an upbeat tune that began with a catchy electric guitar line and even catchier lyrics. This simple love song was very fitting for the colorful, twee cinematography of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018). As the cheerful ambiance of “Lemon Garland” filled my headphones, I watched Lara Jean write letters to her five infatuating crushes and fall in love with her contractually arranged boyfriend.

Overall, patching is a well-named album, with themes of post-heartbreak metamorphosis and healing running through every resounding song. From Charlie Kelmickis, to Lara Jean Covey, Will Byers, Will Hunting, and even to Michael Corleone, plum’s debut album proved to fit almost every story that came across my Netflix screen. Patching will doubtlessly appear in my “pretendits” for the rest of my life.