Search - Lorna :: Writing Down Things To Say

Signposts: Mojave 3, American Analog Set, Coastal, The Blue Nile, Nick Drake. WRITING DOWN THINGS TO SAY is the third album by Nottingham, England s orchestral pop songsmiths LORNA. The quartet follow up their highly acclaimed 2005 record STATIC PATTERNS AND SOUVENIRS with another rare work that eschews convenient classification embracing an expansive sonic palette without sounding eclectic (in no small part due to the dozens of instruments the band is able to skillfully perform and weave into the record's nine compositions). LORNA tours folk, old-time country, chamber pop, post-rock, and even avant-lounge on WRITNG DOWN THINGS TO SAY. But the genius of Lorna lies in the masterful (husband and wife) songwriting team of Mark Rolfe and Sharon Cohen-Rolfe. The duo have created an album unified in theme and texture by seamlessly cross-pollinating their songs with traces of all these musical genres - deftly bringing pedal steel, string quartets, harmonicas, vintage keyboards, and woodwind and brass arrangements into the fold, not to mention their sumptuous vocal harmonies. 'Not In My Lighthouse' bustles with a warm bed of keyboards, on top of which Rolfe s gentle vocals casually flirt with alternating clarinet and flute melodies. This patient courtship builds to yield a wistfulness and exquisiteness once realized by Scotland's romantic perfectionists THE BLUE NILE. On 'Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)' Sharon Cohen-Rolfe's voice is undressed to its poignant core, sheltered only by occasional strings and sparse acoustic guitar. The song is a stark interpretation of the 1993 SEBADOH composition, much in the way Ivo's THIS MORTAL COIL project breathed a fresh new atmosphere into the music of TIM BUCKLEY or ROY HARPER. '(I Wish I Knew) How to Build a House' employs a 7/8 meter to daringly bridge the intersection of post-rock and electro-pop, perhaps having a conversation with AMERICAN ANALOG SET and STEREOLAB along the way. WRITING DOWN THINGS TO SAY is a record that rewards multiple listens, as the sundry instruments that are subtly and cleverly woven into the rich fabric of LORNA's songwriting surface and bloom.