Captured Tracks is proud to unveil this ten track album of gorgeous, whimsical, heartfelt and romantic songs of ‘loss, loneliness and reconnecting’. For fans of the Angel Olson and Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions sound. Molly Burch’s debut LP is the perfect soothing Vegas cocktail to dull a broken heart and accompany the dustbowl sunset.
With arts and culture in the blood Molly was raised in Los Angeles by a writer/producer father and a casting director mother. Molly’s sound makes perfect sense when considering her childhood was filled with old Hollywood musicals and the sounds of Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Drawing further inspiration from artists like Dusty Springfield, Patsy Cline, The Shirelles, and The Everly Brothers, Molly debuts a collection of evocative and provocative tracks blossoming with vintage atmosphere and dripped in dreamy melancholy.
Opener ‘Downhearted’, also the first single released from the LP, sets both the standard and the scene for the whole album. A warm and lugubrious embrocation of plucked tremolo guitar and Bossa Nova beats are a stage upon which Molly’s theatrical lyrics play out. ‘Wrong for You’ has an intro faintly reminiscent of an Inspiral Carpets track. Its heady swirl to it would fit seamlessly into the ‘Goodfellas’ or ‘Pulp Fiction’ movie soundtracks. ‘Please Forgive Me’ is a trance. A slowly spiralling reverb soaked waltz for lovers, where Motown man meets Femme Fatale as guitars sparkle like champagne.
A deep and full desire audibly burns at the yearning heart of Molly’s vocal in ‘Try’. A track awash with Atlantic surf in its sway and crested with Berry Gordy flare in its production, especially so in the guitar fills. Yes there are discernible influences in this debut LP, but only to a level that enhances an a passionate and accomplished originality.
There’s a deliciously cheeky Nico or Francoise Hardy undercurrent that flows through the album. An appreciated tinge of humour that keeps the listener, cutting through, as it does, the melancholic. The pitched piano of ‘Loneliest Heart’ is like desert rain, welcome yet worrisome. The lyrics preview the coming storm that breaks when ones heart is ‘Torn to Pieces’.
‘Fool’ has a dry sarcasm in its cutting lyric that twangs the heartbreakers conscience. It’s a West Side Story meets Grease fifties, finger clicking, lip curling, hot rod challenge of a tune. Chequered flag in tatters, the slide guitar and strings build and build speeding to a crescendo. ‘Not Today’ swoons and swaggers like the Parlophone era Beatles were out on the town with Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. Then we have the cherry pie title track of ‘Please Be Mine’, which quite frankly, needs to be picked up and feature in the new series of Twin Peaks! ‘I Love You Still’ brings the LP to a close and as one might expect, it is a perfect last dance selection. Light the candles, pour a bourbon over rocks, sip, and hold onto your lover tightly. Gorgeous album.
‘Please Be Mine’ by Molly Burch is out on Captured Tracks, February 17th and you can find out more from the links below:
& YouTube
Ben Straughair
