If Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, and Lori McKenna had a songwriting circle, Laura Sawosko would match proper in. Her newest album, Not What I Do (dropping April 18), is a superbly crafted mixture of heartache, humor, and hard-won knowledge, proving as soon as once more that she’s one in every of Nashville’s most underrated singer-songwriters. With 12 authentic tracks, the album takes you on a journey by love, loss, identification, and private development, all wrapped in a heat Americana sound that feels timeless but completely recent.
WEBSITE: https://www.laurasawosko.com/
Sawosko isn’t new to the sport. She’s performed Nashville’s most iconic venues, opened for main artists, and even braved the truth TV present Concern Issue again within the day (sure, actually!) However what units her aside is her potential to show the on a regular basis into one thing poetic. On “Biscuits and Gravy,” she transforms a Southern breakfast staple right into a love letter to nostalgia. “Extra Than Only a Burger” does the identical, proving {that a} track about quick meals can in some way make you cry.
After which there’s “Take My Hand,” an emotional intestine punch that seems like one thing off the most effective of any modern singer-songwriter’s album. With a quiet energy, Sawosko sings about survival and solidarity, weaving in themes of vulnerability and resiliency with out ever feeling preachy. It’s uncooked, actual, and one of the crucial highly effective moments on the album.
The title monitor, “Not What I Do,” is the emotional core of the document. It’s an intimate, stripped-down meditation on identification and the battle to interrupt free from expectations. Consider it as a cross between Maggie Rogers’ soul-searching ballads and the brutal honesty of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.”
Sawosko’s voice has a uncooked, unpolished high quality that makes every part really feel deeply private—like she’s singing these songs in your lounge, only for you. And whereas the album leans closely into people and nation influences, there are moments that really feel nearly indie-pop. “Faculty Days,” for instance, has the identical nostalgic vitality as Olivia Rodrigo’s “Teenage Dream,” however with the maturity of somebody wanting again moderately than nonetheless dwelling it.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/laura-sawosko/4420275
Lyrically, Not What I Do is stuffed with these one-liners that hit you out of nowhere. The sort you wish to scribble in a journal or textual content to your finest pal at 2 a.m. The ultimate monitor, “Not Your Cause,” leaves us on a observe of quiet empowerment—a reminder that generally probably the most highly effective factor you are able to do is stroll away.
Total, Not What I Do is an album that calls for to be felt. It’s good for lengthy street journeys, wet afternoons, or these late-night existential crises while you simply want a track that understands. Laura Sawosko won’t have mainstream radio play (but), however this album proves she’s making a number of the most compelling music within the singer-songwriter area proper now. For those who love artists like Brandi Carlile, The Chicks, and even the storytelling of early Ed Sheeran, Not What I Do must be in your playlist.
Mindy McCall
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