It is always thrilling witnessing the moment an artist comes into their own as a musician and songwriter. That moment has arrived for singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas on her self-titled, third album. 

After a five-year hiatus experiencing the visscitudes of love and loss, Lianne La Havas presents a more stripped back, intimate analog sound, which provides a deeper and more insightful look into her songwriting.

On this new album she lets her vocals caress the pocket of the groove, allowing her newly, smoke-free and warm vibrato melt you into a sympathetic disposition as you listen to her admissions of pain and liberation. The lead single, “Bittersweet,” starts the record off strong with Lianne singing calm, soulful lines without fanfare over a mid-tempo, head-nodding soul groove before the she opens up her range into the chorus, singing, “Bittersweet summer rain, I am born again.” 

Indeed, that bittersweet feeling shapes the emotional spectrum of the album. Songs like “Please Don’t Make Me Cry,” and a meaningful cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” explore both her strength and vulnerability in attempt to move on. No song, however, hits you harder than “Paper Thin.”  Driven by nothing but drums, bass, and her guitar playing a funky, R&B groove, Lianne shows off her growth and maturity as a songwriter. She allows the beauty of the groove to breathe, creating a more textured narrative for her weary voice to wrap around, as she pleads to her lover for “another key” to his heart to save their failing relationship.

Lianne successfully weaves her folk, soul, and pop influences into an album that is as much delicate and graceful as it is courageous and bold; an album that frames Lianne in a new, more authentic light as a recording artist.

*Originally published in Content Magazine

(Warner Records)

Release Date: July 17th, 2020