“A Matter of Time” consists of 14 tracks, the first of which is named “Clockwork.” This track runs along with the clock on the cover of the album and starts the album out on a fun note. The song reminded me a bit of “Winter Wonderland,” with clock sounds in the background mixed with the older sounding style.
The next two songs, named “Lover Girl” and “Snow White,” were both singles released before the full album. “Lover Girl” was another fun, u If you told me a year ago I would be sitting down listening to a full jazz album I would’ve thought you’d lost your mind. Yet on Aug. 22 I found myself opening Spotify to Laufey’s newest release, “A Matter of Time.” While the album was more pop with influences of jazz than straight jazz, it was enough to make the listener feel like they might be in a 20s speakeasy. Laufey’s album had a perfect mix of whimsy and depression, written as the diary of her life through the lens of a fairytale world.
pbeat love song. “Snow White,” however, took a sharp turn away from the happiness of the first two tracks. It was the only track, so far, that I really found myself going back to without the rest of the album. The song took an interesting narrative of using Snow White as an example to make a point on beauty standards. The song was slow without any aggressive production, but the intense singing and lyrics made it memorable nonetheless.
One common theme within songs on “A Matter of Time” was a resemblance to a ballet song. Laufey’s strong musical influences don’t just stop at jazz; she also cites many other classical genres. Classical ballet was most likely one of them. The song “Carousel” was one that faintly reminded me of the rhythm of a song that should be danced to on pointe. It also had an interesting message, describing Laufey’s life as a constantly spinning carousel. The other, more obvious carrier of this theme was the interlude, “Cuckoo Ballet.” It was a lyric-less song graced by Laufey playing a cello with other characteristically classical instruments being added in. The song added a nice instrumental pause to the album.
After “Cuckoo Ballet” was a beautiful song called “Forget-Me-Not.” This is the only song on the album to feature Laufey’s homeland’s language, Icelandic. It also features the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra to create a movie-worthy ballad about her love for Iceland and sadness at leaving it behind.
Following the adventure of listening to this album, I was left with two new favorite songs. Those were “Too Little, Too Late” and “A Cautionary Tale.” “Too Little, Too Late” was a tragic song of Laufey watching a past lover get married as she stood back and wished she would’ve said something when she had the time. The song has amazing lyrics and drums backing part of it. “A Cautionary Tale,” on the other hand, was my immediate favorite for the entire album. Another breakup song, but this time a slightly more angry one. This song immediately intrigued me because it started out in quite a similar way to the intro to the TV show, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” with Laufey explaining that what would be seen ahead will be unnerving. The song then continued to give a beautifully written story that I couldn’t seem to stop replaying.
“A Matter of Time” was classical and modern; two things which Laufey manages to bridge perfectly. My introduction to Laufey had been a couple songs in her past album, but this was my first full listen to an album of hers. It was certainly no disappointment in relation to those first few songs. It was a mystical album full of intriguing songs that I would highly recommend to all.
