Lauryn Peacock - Euphonia (2015)

Lauryn Peacock has named her second full-length record Euphonia after her grandmother. The Nashville-based singer has also said that the word means ‘pleasure of beautiful music’ as well as being a genus of Neotropical birds in the finch family. Somehow this all makes sense when listening to the album and its merging of striking arrangements with inventive melodic lines.

Often experimental, always timeless, each of the ten tracks is brimming with originality and ideas. The album opens with All My Mind and the deceptively light touch of a plinky-plonk piano. Soon a flood of instruments blend together and unite to guide Peacock’s voice through this maze of sound. If you listen closely you can hear subtle hints of everyone from Natalie Prass to The Fiery Furnaces, but to do so would be a disservice to the imagination on hand here.

There a plenty of highlights throughout. On Wounds Grow Grass brass and wind are joined by Sci-Fi FX to transport a dizzying waltz out of the ballroom and off into space. Even a simpler song like the delicate Six Month Quandary is elevated by flourishes of flute and string. But it is when in full flow on Quiet Moments that Euphonia really takes flight. A breathless staccato vocal blends with a pounding drum beat, building towards a cacophonic crescendo that showcases her unique talent in all its glory.

As individual tracks there is much to like here, however this collection really does work best as a single entity. It is an album in the truest sense, a beautiful soundtrack to guide you through life’s maddening challenges.