It’s an exceptionally beautiful thing when the weather lines up beautifully with the first listen of an album. And as the sun beats down, and the wind brings relief at just the right moment, my headphones flood with the voice of Laufey and her breathtaking debut album.
‘Everything I Know About Love’s instrumental elements manage to toy with that fine line between emotive and emotional, giving you “the feels”, but not reducing you to a blubbering mess in public. Memories find their way back from that lost place they go and you’re left to face a montage of these moments of beauty. With a natural predisposition to focus on the negativity that surrounds us, having this key, to escape the quicksand, is a powerful thing.
Similarly to love, the album certainly isn’t flawless. With the odd lyric raising an eyebrow over their simplicity, “looked up at me and my dark, curly hair”, (‘Beautiful Stranger’) there’s a strength in these undeniable tones of broken-hearted teen.
The type that scribbles initials in hearts and declares they’ll never love again after their first heartbreak. The type of dramatics that we denounce and yet were definitely guilty of partaking in at one time or another.
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And whilst I’d love to declare that such lyricism is tainted, imperfect and therefore not worthy of praise, I would be lying. Because it is these qualities that bring forth the very world in which Laufey set out to observe. A world of missed connections, moments of imperfect beauty and love in all forms.
Not only do her relatively simplistic lyrical observations offer a voice to those of us that have been there, but also to those who are swept up in the dramatics of love in this present moment.
It’s a simplicity that mimics the Mass-Observation movement of the 1930s onwards, where the layman recorded their reality on one particular day and said findings were collated into a rather mundane and yet thoroughly intriguing opus of accounts. Every track demonstrates a beauty in the everyday; in the mundane; in our reality.
And combining such observations with the sweeping sounds of orchestral talent and acoustic guitar, the end result, of the combination of these juxtaposing complex and simple elements, is one that feels familiar.
With sold-out dates in North America, Manchester, London, Paris and Amsterdam, the sea is parting for Laufey on her road to success.
As BeReal thrives in a superficial, Instagram world, perhaps there’s something in this revitalisation of these kitchen sink tales. Are we simply fed up with that which tries so hard to be anything but relatable?
7/10
Words: Megan Walder
