Early Summer – the follow-up to Amaya Laucirica’s 2008 debut album, Sugar Lights – is an enveloping record that draws on the pensive intimacy of the talented Melbourne songstress.
Early Summer – the follow-up to Amaya Laucirica’s 2008 debut album, Sugar Lights – is an enveloping record that draws on the pensive intimacy of the talented Melbourne songstress.
But it’s also a record that requires a certain degree of dedication from the listener. It’s cloaked by an almost opaque blanket of reflective contemplation, whereby intensity is replaced by plaintive expression. Her sophomore album, Early Summer, seeps into the consciousness slowly but impressionably, just like peering into the copious shades of abstract art or feeling strangely comforted by a zephyr of post-rain breeze.
Dreamy soundscapes, hazy psychedelia and mellow pop nuances define Laucirica’s gracefully haunting sophomore album, while the arrangements of violinist J.P. Shilo prove an essential addition.
Beginning with mournful organ, Most Times I Feel Alright is a smouldering ballad of misty romanticism, in which Laucirica sings: “In my dreams, things rearrange / Try to imitate your innocence”. This World Can Make You Happy is the record’s most immediate composition. The sublimely crafted track displays the intricate manner in which the record’s instrumentation glides to the breathiness of Laucirica’s vocals without tarnishing any of its ingrained expressiveness and raw intimacy. Laucirica’s skilled band – comprising Andrew Cowie (drums, guitar), Andrew Keese (keyboards, guitar) and Richard Martin (bass) – back her voice and vision beautifully, allowing for the songs to espouse restraint at times or flourish in meticulously-arranged layers.
Sun On My Face is laced in Laucirica’s smooth, innocent intonation and ethereal folk cadences for the first half of the song before exploding with distortion and eliciting a ghostly ambience. Anywhere She Went portrays Laucirica’s fondness for country-infused blues and her expanded vocal trajectory, but the obviously personal Marry Me is rife in cliché and mawkish sentiment. Sleeping In Your Shadow, on the other hand, glistens in Eastern-influenced keys, soulful jazz-pop and vivid imagery. When she cries, “From here, I see you fade away / You turn so slightly further away / I want to see you again someday”, the listener couldn’t be closer to the yearning soulfulness of Laucirica’s warm embrace.
Like a misty-eyed reflection on a balmy evening – with a glass or two for company – Early Summer possesses moments of stirring poignancy, but it’s still reaching for that deepened fulfilment. In Laucirica’s case, it’s a fine position to be in – full-discovery is never a quick process, but Early Summer is close to finding it.
Early Summer is out now through Departed Sounds
