It’s been two years since Gianna Lauren released her first single ‘Mistakes’ for her forth coming album ‘Moving Parts’, which almost never saw the light of day. Lucky it’s here now, and worth the wait.
The sound of the album is comparable to the first night after moving to a new city: the emotional mix bag of missing home, the excitement for what lies ahead, all while being too tired to really soak everything in. While the lyrical content does not reflect this sentiment- it’s much drearier, and tends to capture some of life’s common pitfalls – the reverb drenched guitars, chillingly beautiful vocal delivery, and well thought out simplicity give off the feeling of being happily sad.
The album starts strong with its second single ‘Windows’. Lauren’s signature ambience is coupled with driving drums and a staccato guitar hook; with trumpets added in around the half way mark. They serve to open up the sound during an elongated crescendo, which ultimately builds to a sudden stop before a more subdued end to the song. It’s a fitting transition into the second track: ‘Twilight’. At about half the speed of the opener, this song owns up to Lauren’s promise of haunting ambience – literally everything has some amount of reverb or delay, but tastefully done to prevent this delicate song from becoming an over-saturated mess. This pair of tracks give a feel for the album as they show the contrast found through out the record.
While ‘Moving Parts’ is full of pieces that show profound amounts of introspection- as well as clear jazz and blues influences on songs such as ‘Death and Beauty’ and ‘Tricks’– it is also capable of producing some borderline sinister moments, ‘Innkeeper’, as well as the quirky, not to mention catchy, ‘Mistakes’.
Out of all the tracks on the record however, one stands out in particular: ‘Take it Slow’. This track feels more raw and distinct from the rest of the album -probably due to the fact that it was recorded live off the floor- but it also feels like Gianna is taking the listener with her as she really dives into feelings of grief and loss.
You can tell this album comes from a very personal place; Lauren doesn’t hold anything back when giving her thoughts on some of the peculiar and trying times life tends to put us through. It can be as devastating as the death of some one you care about. The instrumentation is airy and atmospheric, but Lauren grounds the album just enough to absorb the listener rather than losing them to all that space.