published: 5 /
12 /
2023
Label:
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Format: CD
Stylish blend of blend of contemporary jazz and pop on second album from classically-trained Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laufey
Review
‘Bewitched’ is the second album of classically-trained Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laufey Lin Jonsdottir.
Following closely on her 2022 debut album ’Everything I Know About Love’, this new record, self-produced, is a blend of contemporary jazz and pop, the songs revealing influences from an array of classics Including Billoe Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin and Peggy Lee. Love and heartbreak, hope and resilience run through the songs, which are infused with an innovative combination of the classical and jazz; the goal is “to make these genres less scary and take the seriousness out of them because in the end, these are timeless forms of music/”
Songs to listen out for in this fourteen-track collection include: the upbeat opener ‘Dreamer’ with its cheerful defiance in the face of dating disasters: “No boy’s gonna halt the dreamer in me”; the catchy ‘Lovesick’ with its expansive orchestration and soaring chorus; the harmonious ‘California And Me’, a sumptuous collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra; ‘Nocturne (Interlude)’, a spellbinding instrumental; ‘Promise’, co-written with Dan Wilson, showcasing her emotive and versatile vocals, with its heart-wrenching chorus: “It hurts to be something/It’s worse to be nothing/With you”; playful bossa nova Tik-Tok hit ‘From The Start’; a refreshing, accomplished interpretation of the jazz classic ‘Misty’; ‘Letter To My 13 Year Old Self’ with its lines of positivity and resilience: “Keep on going with your silly dream/Life is prettier than it may seem/One day, you’ll be up on stage/Little girls will scream your name”; and the closer, the orchestral, cinematic ‘Bewitched’.
Soulful, romantic, ‘Bewitched’ is a stylish album from this charismatic and inventive musician.
Track Listing:-
1
Dreamer
2
Second Best
3
Haunted
4
Must Be Love
5
While You Were Sleeping
6
Lovesick
7
California and Me
8
Nocturne (Interlude)
9
Promise
10
From The Start
11
Misty
12
Serendipity
13
Letter To My 13 Year Old Self
14
Bewitched
Band Links:-
https://www.laufeymusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laufeymusic
https://twitter.com/laufey
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