‘Grounded in the Clouds’ is Lauren’s second album following her 2015 eponymous debut. Hailing from San Francisco Bay, she’s lived in Liverpool, Leeds, London, Bath, and Bristol, and, according to her bio, she’s been ‘soaking up the musical landscapes along the way’.
‘Grounded’ contains only seven songs, structured primarily around acoustic guitar and voice. But beneath that headline there’s a lot of detail, both in the detail of the arrangements and in the delivery, which brims with character. The fundamental structures are simple, but violin and other instruments augment the hypnotic repetitions of the picked guitar motifs to render an album that’s melodic, varied, and above all incredibly listenable without being bland or wallpapery.
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Quite the opposite, in fact: ‘Grounded In The Clouds’ may be mellifluous and mellow, but it’s also varied and beguiling.
‘Tell You So’ begins with a lilting, layered acappella before going folk-rock, while for all the hefty connotations of the title, ‘Freight Train’ sounds more like early All About Eve or even Maddie Prior in its simple acoustic folksiness that’s imbued with a timeless quality.
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