Genre Tripping Effort Grooves To Its Own

Most bands have struggle perfecting one genre throughout their career, let alone copious styles.  Phoenix based band What Laura Says may just be idiot savant in that they seemingly mastered several on their first endeavor. Make no mistake - there’s nothing conventional about the band or their debut album Thinks & Feels. The quintet grew from duo founding members Danny Godbold and James Mulhern and its acoustic band roots. Thankfully by adding a frenetic rhythm section, What Laura Says could embody the frenzy they sought to inspire with their music in the first place. These musical hitchhikers choose not to stick to one path and instead explore multiple genres while keeping some form of cohesion within their album. The result is a gift for the ears, a storybook of songs ranging from the simplest of tunes to dense sonnets.

Like an ADHD musical child, What Laura Says is really all over the place and as a result near impossible to pin down. The band cannot be put into just one category, or hell - even two. Once you’ve defined the sound of them, the next track comes throwing all assumptions into the nearest waste bin. Opener ‘Couldn’t Lose Myself if I Tried’ delineates this chaos formula starting with hush acoustics and tender drum shuffles. A knock on a door sounds and takes the song in a completely different direction on the tone of Wilco before shifting once again to nippy pianos and unruly drum fills. The song exhaustedly collapses in a flourish of tambourines with lead singer Godbold’s voice joining in the madness.  And only a mere three minute and twenty-one second song has managed to switch moods four times without a hitch. Though none of the tracks after this illustrate this mastery, each one differs from the previous.

From the acoustic ‘Dot Dot Dot’ to the alternative rock ‘Paradice,’ the flow of Thinks & Feels stays consistent and interconnected. But the true glue that bonds What Laura Says’ is its radiant songwriting. Each track, no matter what approach, features Godbold and Mulhern’s finicky lyrics. Though at times you wish they would continue with one sound and not abandon for another, they perform each with ease and skill. Perhaps Thinks & Feels was a learning experience to the band; an attempt to find their choice style of music. But their concord journey is ultimately what makes the album a stronger one.

Amy Dittmeier