Life in your twenties can be a strange vortex of exciting possibilities and daunting new responsibilities.
You're not long past the freedom of your teens but navigating career prospects, relationships and a sense of your place in the world seems suddenly, and terrifyingly, real for the first time.
In 2013, London Grammar captured the mood of those unsettling unknowns, carving out a beautiful stillness within the eye of those stormy years of young adulthood with their mesmerising debut album If You Wait.
The trio met as students at Nottingham University. Guitarist Dan Rothman recognised an evocative quality to Hannah Reid's singing voice and insisted she had something special. They recruited Dominic 'Dot' Major after seeing him play percussion at their student union.
It was supposed to be a bit of fun, gigging around uni and some local pubs, but Rothman, an economics student, was keeping count of his days in the band, concerned he'd need to soon find a 'proper job'.
They put their music up online, and the response assured Rothman that he could afford to pursue his musical pathway a little further.
As an emerging band with little in the way of gig experience, the trio was surprised to find healthy attendances at their early shows.
"They were big and important shows because we have this response online," Reid told triple j in 2013.
"We didn't have the 'doing a few shows here and there for a couple of years' to get used to gigging, so it was nerve- wracking, but we got through it," she explained.
"There was one show where I was sick before and after, although its probably the worst thing that could happen really, but you just go out there and do it anyway. And it feels amazing, nothing else matters once you're there."
With their spacious interiors and Rothman's reverb-heavy guitar plucks, comparisons with fellow Londoners The xx may have been warranted to some extent but its Reid's voice - trembling with emotion whilst remaining resolutely dignified - that distinguished London Grammar from the outset.
The trio was quick to realise that with an instrument as formidable as Reid's, space should be allowed for her voice to soar and descend, ruminate and lament, fully occupying the group's sparse sonic terrain. We all collectively swooned as she did so.
The minimalism of the album's opener, 'Hey Now', allows Reid to set the scene with lyrics like "letters burning by my bed for you", as she grapples with whether to risk her heart.
There seems to be an understanding that arrives within the conflict of those emotions. Her cries of 'Hey now!' feel startling and self-revelatory.
'Hey Now' sums up the inner turmoil and earnest yearning that comes with new love, and its development as a song directly impacted the overriding mood and sound of If You Wait.
Whilst Rothman and Major were making space for Reid's voice to roam freely, their creative sensibilities were also making an impact on the singer.
"The thing about being in a band is, I spend so much time singing just in a room with Dan and Dot [and] being influenced by the music we were writing that my voice just did just naturally get stronger, and it developed a lot," Reid explained of the band's evolving dynamic.
If there's a song that absolutely nails the angst of relationship woes in your twenties, it's 'Wasting My Young Years'.
Its not just that your heart is broken, and that you feel shit, but that you'll never get the precious time back that you poured into that failed relationship.
The folly and frivolity of adolescence has been superseded with a pressing realisation of time as a precious commodity.
Once again Reid places us at the epicentre of the conflict, as we grieve our loss and count the costs, before she consoles the listener with:
'Don't you know that its only fear
I wouldn't worry you have all your life
I've heard it takes some time to get it right.'
Whilst relationships can certainly take time to get right, London Grammar managed to land on a compelling sound straight out of the gates with If You Wait.
It raced up charts around the world, had the UK bookies backing a Mercury Prize nod, and three of the album's songs claimed spots in triple j's Hottest 100 of 2013: 'Wasting My Young Years' (#61), 'Hey Now' (#35), and 'Strong' (#10).
"I think we still don't believe it really. I think our strongest reaction has been in Australia," Reid gauged of the band's international response.
"When its online you can't quite believe it, that the numbers are going up, it's sort of not tangible in a way. It does feel very surreal at times."
Any lingering sense the group had of the intangibility of their success must have been quashed after the group collected their bronze statuettes at the Ivor Novello Awards for their song 'Strong'.
With its stirring call to remain 'wide eyed' while 'so damn caught in the middle,' 'Strong' - much like the rest of If You Wait - offers a salve and a haven to ponder and reflect in the moment.
In that middle ground, it's a welcome contrast to the sometimes competing extremes of external forces that can exert themselves on us in tumultuous times.
It felt like a record of and for its time when it was released in 2013, but it seems we'll never actually be at a loss with London Grammar and the patient heart of If You Wait.