On her fifth solo full-length release, Vancouver singer-songwriter Louise Burns captures the essence of country, folk, dreampop, and synthpop in a combination so perfect that it is divine.
Burns’ calm and self-assured singing has a country-pop feel – think Shania Twain – that’s dreamy without sounding coy. This vocal delivery works beautifully on the opening track “I Don’t Feel Like I Used To,” which has a bluesy acoustic guitar hook that’s combined with Kate Bush style – psychedelic and mellow – arrangement.
On “Let It Die,” she continues in the same direction, but with a galloping rhythm that’s as velvety smooth as it is overpoweringly dancey. “Bloom” and “Kids” have the same magic as the previous tracks, but with breezy pop-rock meets dreampop vibe, kind of like a relaxing drive on an open road on a picture perfect sunny day, and all is right with the world.
If the first half of Element is straight up gratifying ear candy, the second half is like pure dark chocolate; if you have a certain discerning palette, you will gravitate more toward this part of the album, especially the tracks “Element,” “Play Pretend,” and “Hot Girls.”
These numbers have a bucolic haunting calmness that is evocative of the classic sound of Kate Bush, or the more contemporary sound of Goldfrapp. Their pillowy synths anchoring the instrumentation are heavenly and their overall instrumentation is gorgeous. Burns’ confident and twangy vocals on these cuts are calming in a “non indie singer-songwriter” way, as she sounds more like a self-assured country singer, adding a cool dimension to these tracks.
“Hot Girls,” particularly, despite its lovelorn lyrics, has an eighties new romantic vibe, made smoother by a piano solo so melodious, that it is both cheesy and oh so good…just like the caramel surprise oozing out of dark chocolate!
Element is short with just eight tracks (the ninth one is a 28-second interlude). But surprisingly, this album’s humble 30 minutes are as gratifying as a 60 minute record…Element is just one heck of a satisfying musical dessert!
