- Sydney-born, Melbourne-based, Laura Jean has been releasing music for well over a decade now, with several folk albums which had a particular focus on storytelling. Not long after the release of her 2014, self-titled album, Laura began experimenting with a '90's Kawai keyboard. Soon she began playing live shows strictly with the keyboard and she began to completely redefine her sound.
The result is her new, dreamy synthpop album, Devotion. With the album rollout, the change has bred success, too. The first single Touchstone resulted in recognition from worldwide music publications, and even earned Laura a tweet from international pop megastar Lorde. Despite overhauling her sound, Laura Jean continues her typically deeply powerful exploration of honest and personal themes on Devotion.
She immediately establishes a wistful sound on the first track of the album, Press Play. Lush keys accompany an anecdote that wouldn’t be out-of-place in an '80's teen rom-com. Whether or not it’s a conscious effort, it’s a nice way to immediately thematically tie the album to its '80's pop sound.
This is the general direction of Devotion too, with Laura describing it as being a recollection of her “eccentric, romantically-unfulfilled teenage years.” Stylistically, however, she is consistently shifting between dreamier cuts like Press Play and Northerly to catchier dance songs like Touchstone and the album's title track. While Touchstone has been the subject of plenty of praise, it’s the album’s second single, Girls on the TV, which is perhaps the highlight.
The track explores the heartbreaking upbringing of an old friend named Ricky, and how she was never able to recover. Laura’s dreamy falsetto interweaves a slow-burning synth and bass line as she recounts Ricky being teased away from dance school, and the time her step-father tried to kiss her on the piano stool. She remembers learning about Ricky’s cocaine addiction years later, and almost forgetting who she was. It’s certainly a step away from the romantic themes of the album, but Laura’s exuberance still comes through in the chorus, as she recalls how Ricky could always dance better than the girls on the TV.
Despite all the troubles Laura consoles Ricky through, she sings about how she told her “one day we’ll be beautiful”. This is where it becomes clear that amidst all the tales of young love on the album, it’s the tragic Girls on the TV which best examines this unembellished youthful optimism. To Laura, capturing the “everyday story of a girl” was paramount, and she wanted to show how “seemingly inconsequential events” can have a huge effect.
With repeat listens to Devotion, it becomes clear that there isn’t much exploration in sound, but that’s sort of the point. Much like Laura’s earlier folk records, the subject matter is very much the focus of this record. In fact, the only major difference between this and the emotive strains of her earlier records is that the instrumental backdrop has changed quite dramatically; and within the distant, dizzying sound of Devotion, there is so much emotion much to be unpacked.
- Jack Jones.