National Album Day 2019: Dogviolet by Laurel

Laurel perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be a music maker in today’s landscape of artists with more control over their sound. Her 2018 debut album Dogviolet struck me with a deep level of confidence in both vocal delivery and performance that few artists are able to achieve, for that reason I’ve chosen it for National Album Day 2019.

Working out of her East London studio she handled all the songwriting, production, and mixing duties for the album, a mammoth task but one that allows the audience a greater sense of intimacy and shows the extent of her skill set.

Sonically, the album navigates brash rhythmic guitar tones, hard hitting live drums and unique percussion sounds that all work to support the album’s narrative. Her work is able to perfectly capture the paradoxes of many romantic relationships; wanting attention but not wanting too much, wanting someone but not the toxicity a relationship could bring.

The album’s standout single, Adored, is the strongest to exemplify this, opening with the poignant line; “you’ve been wasting my time honey/ I’ve been wasting your life babe.” An artist like her with such a firm sense of self, so early in her career, should move through the world rejoicing just as we do when with her music.

At only nineteen years old, Greta Jaime (pronounced “jay-me”) is already a rising pop talent. After putting out her debut single ‘Lost in Mexico’ at sixteen, the north Londoner (of Mexican origin) has gained a firm foothold in the industry.

Within the opening bars of A Better Kind Greta Jaime’s sparse keyboard lines house a latent grandeur, which she develops through four minutes of some of the most confident pop writing to come from an emerging artist in a while.
Replete with huge and explosive vocal hooks and R&B tinged percussive grooves, A Better Kind channels the heady heartache that comes with acceptance over a failed relationship.

Penned and produced solely by Jaime, the song crescendos to a blistering climax: syncopated hip hop hi-hats underpin a skygazing solo reminiscent of St Vincent, making for a vital piece of contemporary pop perfection.

Dogviolet by Laurel chosen by musician and songwriter Greta Jaime

&U&I @ Muthers Studio (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

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