With many fans anticipating the release, Laufey launched her new album, “A Matter of Time,” her third and longest studio album, on Aug. 22. With 15 tracks on the album, Laufey had plenty of room to experiment with new styles as well as craft new classics similar to her previous albums.
While Laufey has made herself known as a “modern jazz” artist, “A Matter of Time” is labeled as a work of pop, although it has proven itself to be a mix of many genres. This compilation includes songs inspired by jazz, pop, R&B and even country. Although it is inspiring to hear young artists try new things, it is true that a little goes a long way, and this album is a lot.
A few of the songs, such as “Clockwork,” “Lovergirl,” “Seems Like Old Times” and “Mr. Eclectic,” have instrumentals reminiscent of classic jazz, such as Freddie Green style guitar playing, a walking bassline, piano comping and brushes on the drumset keeping a swing feel. Although this is the case, Laufey’s voice and inflection are not in the style of jazz, and instead ingrain modern pop into these songs. This is different from her past albums, as she has changed the feel even more towards pop music as opposed to jazz this time around. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it did feel unnatural for her music and resulted in a loss of feeling replaced with an increase in energy. Although this is not my taste, people who love getting pumped up with pop music and are looking for something new may enjoy these songs and others.
As the songs mentioned above take a turn towards a new pop style, she experiments even more with songs such as “Silver Lining” and “Clean Air,” channeling soul and country into the songs, respectively. The classic Laufey strings were still present in “Silver Lining,” but were used to create tension in this slow yet bluesy tune that is different from anything she has yet released. This slight change in style came much more naturally for Laufey. She could have an entire album of similar kinds of songs and be just as successful. This style of music fits her voice perfectly, and while her normal instrumentation is slightly changed, she keeps pieces of her old self that create a beautiful piece that I recommend for fans of many styles to listen to. While this R&B-esque song paid off for Laufey, surprisingly so did her twangy take entitled “Clean Air.” Laufey added the right amount of banjo and tambourine sound from the south while fitting with her regular style, but still created something completely different from anything she has done before. True country fans may disagree, but I applaud Laufey for going out of her comfort zone to make new sounds that still seem to be true to herself.
“A Matter of Time” may be testing the waters for multiple directions Laufey may take her future creations, but she still delivers with ballads similar to what we heard on her last album, “Bewitched.” One of these is “Snow White,” my personal favorite from the album, which delivers a strong message about how you view yourself differently than others do, and the toll that societal expectations have had on her. Since this is a slow song, the lyrics come across very directly, and the instruments in the background are very simple to stay out of the way, but still support Laufey’s beautiful lyrics and voice. This being said, there were other ballads such as “Carousel,” “Too Little, Too Late” and “Forget-Me-Not,” that had less of a message and less intensity, seeming to just fill up space on the album.
Most of the songs on “A Matter of Time” I will never intentionally listen to again, but there are a few hidden gems that may be added to my playlist. I recommend listening to this album if you like different types of music, because there is a lot that can be found. This album will likely have something for you, no matter your usual music taste, so it is worth giving it a shot. Overall, I enjoyed “Snow White,” “Silver Lining” and “Mr. Eclectic,” but it might take some time for the other 12 songs to make it onto my playlist.
