Traditional Americana artist Anna Laube sings with a slight country twang over a mix of blues, country, and folk on her latest album. Her self-titled third album, Anna Laube, took five years to complete. She self-titled the album because it feels like she has gone through a rebirth, and also follows in the footsteps of one of her first songwriting heroes, Lucinda Williams, who titled her third album eponymously. The album’s simplicity is a breath of fresh air in the age of loud and in your face music. Anna Laube has a beautiful and unique voice that shines on the record.The album opens with the easygoing “Already There”. The track features a quiet production with banjo, guitars, and digital celeste, and Anna’s soft vocals. The narrator is gently reminded that she’s already exactly where she needs to be. Laube gave up cars and chronicled life through her relationships with bicycles, the result being “The Bike Song”. The track is a riff on Woody Guthrie’s “Car Song”, and has a swing band crossed with a folky sound to it, that features a rapid talk-sing style.
Laube explores the theme of craving and the suffering it causes on “Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes”, “Sugarcane”, “Satisfied Mind”, and “Oh My! (Oh Me Oh Me Oh My)”. The narrator finds herself craving both cupcakes and an old lover in “Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes”. The production features ukulele, acoustic bass, and string arrangement. Laube sums up the song in the line, “I’m craving chocolate chip banana cupcakes, but all I really want is you.” Based on “Cocaine Blues”, “Sugarcane” was remade for many people’s current drug of choice, sugar! The production has a bluesy feel to it and features a trombone, trumpet, violin, and piano. “Satisfied Mind” is a cover, the first version to feature a female protagonist/pronouns. It’s a melancholy song, one that Laube’s vocals are perfect for. I particularly like the line, “But I’m richer by far, with a satisfied mind.” The jazzy “Oh My! (Oh Me Oh Me Oh My)” features long time Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell on organ and piano. The track has a faster rhythm to it than the others.
Laube ties up loose ends in both “This One’s For You” and “You Ain’t Worth My Time Anymore”. The first is a low-key track featuring a beautiful fiddle, an acoustic guitar and slide guitar. The latter is a very bluesy number that features a cool acoustic guitar like you’ve never heard it before, harmonica and piano. The narrator tells her lover that he just ain’t worth her time anymore. “Sweet Boy From Minnesota” is a sweet ode to… you guessed it! A Boy from Minnesota. The record closes out with the easy on the ears, peaceful “Green”.
The album is a wonderful Americana record, simple but filled with talent. The record isn’t weighed down by a loud, heavy production, and instead focuses on the lyrical stories and Anna’s vocals. Anna Laube is definitely worthy of a listen!
Originally posted here.
