Anna Laube crossed my path for the first time last year with
her delightful eponymous album. She now returns in 2016 with record number 4
and her middle name added to the credits. The good news is that there is very
little change in the album’s reception as TREE shapes up to be one of the year’s
chill out releases. Straddling the imaginary boundary between country and folk
is probably far from the thoughts of Anna Elizabeth Laube when she sets out on
the path of filtering her creative thoughts into a packaged offering. Yet those
in tune with this virtual marker will lap up each of the nine tracks that make
the sum of the album.
These tracks are spit between seven of Anna’s originals and
two interesting covers that add value rather than mere repetition. Bob Dylan’s ‘Wallflower’ took a while to surface in
the recording world and has since been picked up by artists such as Buddy
Miller and Uncle Earl. Anna’s gorgeously sung version opens the record and is
always going to be in stark contrast to that of its master originator. The
other cover has a more contemporary origin and there will always be a significant
minority who will enjoy Anna’s sensually passive version of Beyoncé’s ‘XO’ over the popped up original. But
good songs stand an alternative take and this one delivers.
The soul of the album resides in Anna’s originals which are
blessed with engaging lyrical structure, graceful melodies and liberally
sprinkled with magical tunes. ‘Please Let
it Rain in California Tonight’ may or may not have literal tendencies but its interpreted
plea for a better world is spot on and certainly profound in sentiment. Its
structure is also akin to some of Danny Schmidt’s work. While in the
namedropping territory, the opening bar to ‘I
Miss You So Much’ immediately brings Hannah Aldridge to mind and her most
striking opening line. Also the chorus part of the final track ‘All My Runnin’’ throws up a glimpse of
Jason Isbell’s ‘Alabama Pines’. Of
course the general gentle sound of Anna is far different overall, but great song
writing transcends this.
There is a definite theme of stripping away life’s excessive
layer whether seeking solace in a natural haven or getting to grips with
emotive feelings in a personal setting. The back-to-back tracks in the record’s
opening phase convey the former with the title song ‘Tree’ ripe with folk basics and the carefree figurative number ‘Sunny Days’ possessing a dreamy
jazz-like feel. If shelter, refuge and safety are life’s basics then the ‘Longshoreman’ does its bit to transfer such
feelings into the serene medium of the crafted song. ‘Lose, Lose, Lose’ is another top notch offering albeit with a mood
switch amidst a similar soft approach. Here Anna lyrically excels with the lines
‘’cause you’re more like a bottle of whiskey. And a razor blade wrapped in two’.
Listener complacency is jettisoned at this point, if existing at all.
The journey for Anna has been from Iowa to Seattle via
Wisconsin and Europe, with perhaps a little hope that the latter can be visited
again to share some her work in a live setting. The soothing and satin vocals
found on the record will blossom in the idyllic listening environment. This
cordial body of work minimally sound tracked at its best with piano, fiddle and
pedal steel is primed for discerning destinations. Ultimately it’s a beautiful piece
of artistic elegance using the spirit of song to burrow deep into the basement
of the natural and intimate world.
www.annaelizabethlaube.com
