Lake Tear Of The Clouds

Lake Tear of the Clouds / Cornelia Murr
Reviewed by: jackie

Dreamy, ethereal soundscape with folksy and jazzy instrumentals. Velvety vocals throughout, extremely cohesive. The debut album from Cornelia Murr, produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. FCC clean. Favorites: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8

1. (3:53) Different This Time - Xylophone synth, reminds me of an ice cream truck or carousel music, steady powerful drum kicks, dreamy vocals, a gentle, slightly jazzy introduction
2. (4:07) *Tokyo Kyoto - Slower, more subtle, dreamy soundscape, describes her experience with an unplanned pregnancy “oh we’ll have those days,” voice and instrumental build gradually
3. (3:42) *Man on my mind - More xylophone synth, drum kit comes in, more prominent than before, more upbeat, cosmic sounding soul/folk/jazzy
4. (4:01) Cicada - fuzzier xylophone sound, fuzzier vocals, begins with an incessant fuzzy xylophone synth/static sound, much like a cicada sound. Slightly dissonant. Light waltzing jazzy beat. A quiet buildup and then a release in the middle. Certainly the most dissonant and different sounding song on the album. Ends with cicada/bird chirps. Splits the album in half
5. (3:21)* Who Am I To Tell You - more propulsive/pronounced drum. No more xylophone synth. Marching rhythm with drum and soft bassline. “Who am i to tell you how to treat a lady” the irony is not lost. Fun synthy/folky/banjo/tambourine instrumental interlude. Most uptempo on the album.
6. (3:22) Billions - Return of the xylophone synthy sound. Velvety vocals. Slightly building instrumental drums. The underlying synth can get kind of tiring and relentless. Doesn’t really go anywhere
7. (5:12) *I Have A Woman Inside My Soul - cover of Yoko Ono song, more pronounced vocals. Lower register, less breathy. Instrumental breakdown and backing vocals at the end. Great cover. Play this one!
8. (3:57) *You Got Me - stripped back instrumentals (most sparse out of all the tracks), more like the first half of the album. Finger picking lets her voice come through. Whistling. Very dreamy and beautiful.