Creativity on top form – a song that masters the space between the comfortingly familiar and the outright unexpected. Artist and performer Lauralie drives with cascading layers of melody and mystique, throughout this revealing yet modest ode to an unnamed subject of admiration.
Acoustic guitar finger-picking and softly enchanting vocals set the scene, the lyrics taking you right into the moment. The performance is natural, effortlessly engaging. Subtle additional layers of voice begin to appear, warming up the resolving ends of each line. Meanwhile the story draws you in, these scenes feeling so specific and personal that they fascinate.
What’s great about the structure and set up of no name is that we soon shift away from the clearly anecdotal details like the car and the scenery and the relationship, to a chorus that’s notably more metaphorical and broadly accessible from a musical perspective. “It’s a sunset I will miss, that’s a river I would dip my toes into.” That balance is essential, and meets with the increasingly unique arrangement of musicianship with brilliantly artistic relevance.
Slowly but surely we’re surrounded by looping vocal adlibs and sentiments, subtle keys, breathy warmth, a descending melody pattern that’s both hopeful and melancholy in its sense of longing and desire. There’s even a brief hint of oriental playing to the guitar, another humble quality helping light up the quiet infatuation of the alluring and brilliantly original no name.
Find all things Lauralie or follow on Instagram.
