Estelle Clifford: Laufey - A Matter of Time

The third album from Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey, ‘A Matter of Time’ represents a shift towards vulnerability and emotional expressiveness. 

Her two earlier albums were heavily influenced by the ‘Great American Songbook’, filled with her now iconic blend of jazz, classical, and pop influences. 

‘A Matter of Time’ is a look inwards, Laufey’s interest in seeing how she could draw out the “most flawed parts of [herself] and look at them directly in the mirror”.  

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the album. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from news Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
F School.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
That song is called Forget Me Not. It's by Lave.
She's got a new album called A Matter of Time.
Interesting name given. It sort of feels like slightly timeless music,
a kind of hard to pin down. Stelle Clifford is
our music review. She's with us now, good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Hello. Don't you just feel like you're watching some old
school nineteen fifties movie, yeah or something, or that's Cinderellerie
snow White thing where you're out in the forest and
the birds are floating around.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, it's all beautiful. She's so clever.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
I love this though, because there's this prettiness to it, right,
and there's these flourishes of the orchestra and the strings.
But actually some of what she writes, the lyrics can
actually be quite dark, and it makes me think Grim
Brother's kind of fairy tale.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
For sure, like the old school ones before.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
We go them nice endings. Yeah, yeah, so she's like that.
She's said in a recent interview. My songs of self
reflection on this album aren't very hopeful. They're actually quite cynical.
But it's not the whole tone, you know what I mean,
there's still brightness about it, and there's somewhere She's even
teased on her Instagram She's like, the only way to
get through this song is to skip down the road.

(01:49):
And it's quite joyful. And I think that's the energy
of the music that's behind her voice as well. That
song in particular, Forget Me Not. I just think that
really showcases the control in her voice. Someone who has
studied classical music and jazz music, there's just something so

(02:09):
magic about the way they use their voices and their
instruments too, Like just the controllery here and there on
like fire Out that just actually blows my mind a
little bit. Right from the side of the album, Like
I said, you're in that kind of snow whitey sort
of thing. But then every now and then a lyric
will drop. I like that she sometimes just drops into
her native tongue and you almost don't realize until you

(02:32):
really are listening to what's going on. And there's a
few swears that she's randomly peppered in, maybe near the
end of a song. It just really kind of makes
you go, wait, what.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
You're talking about.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
She worked with Aaron Desner on some of the songs
on this album, So think Tate. So she does have
she does have interest, and she does have musicality that
is pop and she wanted, I guess, to bring that
out a little bit more. And you hear that kind
of and the later songs of the album. There's quite
a few tracks on this, but I think someone more
of that pop vibe comes in that he's able to

(03:04):
bring to that, and she did that. She thinks he
helped her sort of get like a level of shine
and some speed and paste the music that she hasn't
necessarily always had or when you sit in that nineteen
fifties movie old school style, you can get quite swoony
and drifty and whimsical. But she wanted to bring it
some pace into some of the music that she's got.

(03:26):
So I think he actually does quite a good job
on it. I think it kind of means when you
hear some of the pop tracks, I mean, they're not
hugely too poppy, but they would be reminiscent I think
of Taylor Swift, and I think we've had someone like
Aaron work on that sort of thing. You know, that's
his style, right, So there's a little. You can kind
of once you've heard it a few times, I think
you can kind of pick out the tracks that he's

(03:47):
probably worked with her on. There's a great song on
the album called tough Luck, and there are some low
key burns that I am so here for, and the
lyrics on that outing a cheetah who didn't cheat on her,
but cheated on the girl before her. Look, it's just
a real story. We're like, w.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Give it to him.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah yeah. I love that she kind
of follows rules what musicality is, but not I mean,
if you're going to blend classical jazz and pop music,
it feels like you're throwing a whole lot up in
the air and sort of seeing where it lands. So
she says that she doesn't get too stuck in rules
of how music's supposed to be if it sounds and
feels right to her. Then with this album in particular,

(04:28):
she's had real confidence in saying this is what my
sound is and this is what I'm playing with. And
I actually really love that because, I mean, jazz is
a wonderful genre to be in. It makes you want
to dance, it makes this is such beautiful imagery with
that kind of music, I think so yeah, the way
she does it, I mean for it. If you get

(04:48):
a chance to see any of her music videos that
she's just released, they are very cinematic and just wonderful.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I think.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
I think she's really pushing some boundaries but also really
finding her place and how to mix all of those
things that she loves and put them into one thing.
If you want to know what classical jazz and pop
sound like together her, then leve is your a very
Icelandic way to say that. Of course there is a
you sound, but I can't quite get it, and it

(05:18):
makes me want to say, like, like Marty instead.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
I've done enough job with pronunciation sie free to stay.
I called sea free this morning, So you know, it's
just if you're looking for an Icelandic pronunciation, you've come
to the wrong place, I'm afraid.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Oh yeah, And maybe don't look at it. Just don't
look at how it's written, I think is the best way,
and just get it in your head to say leve
and then you'll be good.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Because you know what my take is. And I feel
very like it's very rare that for someone like this
who's a little bit not off Broadway. But you know,
it's very unusual for me to have to have heard
of her before we played an album. We have played
a couple of songs of hers before. But you know,
I feel like it's perfect music for if you've got

(05:58):
someone coming out for dinner or something and you want
to seem cool and interesting.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Look, I think that's it because that's some discussion where they're.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Like, what's this and you're like, oh, don't you know,
don't you know that.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
She's actually a new artist, and you feel all like you.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Really know exactly and you're like, yeah, yeah, like I
think I read somewhere that she's classically trained. Yeah, but
it is, it is. It is interesting music. It is.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
It's really interesting music. And I think there is that
thing that actually you don't like it's beautiful for background,
but really try and sit with it so you can
hear some of her storytelling and lyrics because they're kind
of funny, like she does have that sort of dark
wish about her. Yeah, and I think again that gives
you the interest piece. So look, you're a conversation starter
at your dinner parties.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Jacks, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, that's got it going on.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
You know all, all I want is just for someone
to think that I'm cool and interesting, you know. So
this is perfect. No, that sounds really good. So what
did you give a matter.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
Of Time as an eight out of teen for me?
I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, very good, I think so. Yeah. Cool. All right,
we'll have a bit more of a listening in a
few minutes. That is a Steale Clifford Our Music Viewer
eight out of teen for a matter of Time by
Lave

Speaker 1 (07:01):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.