The Mynabirds - Lovers Know

Wer sich die Wartezeit auf neue Alben von Lana Del Rey (für "Honeymoon" gibt es zumindest mittlerweile einen Veröffentlichungstermin: 18. September) und Mates Of State (hier dient die "You're Going To Make It" EP als gelungene Überbrückungshilfe) versüßen möchte, der kann getrost zu "Lovers Know" greifen.

"All My Heart" wäre sicherlich ein Hit, stünde Lana Del Rey auf dem Plattencover und würde "Say Something" von ihr stammen, so könnte man all die bei "High By The Beach" genannten Einflüsse (Hip Hop, R&B, Trip Hop) auch nachvollziehen. Die Single "Semantics", "Orion" und "One Foot" könnten aufgrund des männlichen Backgroundgesangs, der dezenten elektronischen Beats und Keyboard-Klänge eher den Mates Of State zugeordnet werden. Oder The Postal Service, die Laura Burhenn 2013 auf Tournee begleitete. 

The Mynabirds wurden von Burhenn 2009 gegründet und haben nach "What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood" (2010) und "Generals" (2012) nun ihr drittes Album bei Saddle Creek veröffentlicht. "Lovers Know" entstand im Verlauf eines Jahres, das Laura Burhenn auf Solo-Tour durch die USA und Südafrika und letztendlich mit dem Produzenten Bradley Hanan Carter in Studios in Los Angeles, Nashville und Auckland, Neuseeland, führte. Müsste man Vergleiche aus dem Saddle Creek Kosmos finden (ein Song heißt auch tatsächlich "Omaha"), dann wären dies vermutlich Bright Eyes zu "Digital Ash In A Digital Urn"-Zeiten oder Azure Ray auf einer Erkundungsreise durch die Sounds der 80er-Jahre.

The Mynabirds has always produced multifaceted, intricate indie pop songs, usually centered around Burhenn's rich, throaty voice and her keyboard, played sometimes for fizzy fun and sometimes for poignant melancholy. Lovers Know is certainly both multi-faceted and intricate, but it's also writ larger than anything else Burhenn has done with The Mynabirds. It relies heavily on a Casio keyboard, which lends an '80s ballad throwback feel to "All My Heart" and "Wildfire," tech-savvy, futuristic soundscapes to "Believer" and "Say Something," and a little of both to "Semantics" and the distinctly Sega-adjacent "Shake Your Head Yes." Burhenn's voice sounds well-traveled, due in part to her low vocal range and her restrained, deliberate delivery, but never crosses over into world-weariness. Lovers Know sounds like a collection of jewels, bright and eclectic, collected from points near and far, and Burhenn sounds like a wanderer who knows exactly where she's going.

(NPR)

Burhenn’s transience during her album’s creation was undoubtedly conducive to much of her communications with loved ones having been carried out in text – emails, text messages, tweets, and so on. Linguistic expression is a theme mined deeply on Lovers Know, from the self-explanatory “Say Something” and “Semantics” – where Burhenn shrewdly observes that she’d be a fool to “think that [her] semantics could break any rules” – to her concession of “changing my diction” in “Believer” or the non-verbal assent of “Shake Your Head Yes”. Just as on Generals, Burhenn is able to bridge the gap of the universal and personal in addressing the miscues, misinterpretations, and breakdowns that occur between us at all levels of personal relationship.

Running tandem to Burhenn’s more heavily introspective lyrical content, Lovers Know is a drastic departure from the eclectic ‘60s-flavoured, soul-inflected chamber pop of Generals.  Interestingly, Burhenn’s remarkable vocal dexterity that allowed her to jump tempos and genres so easily there is still alive and well on Lovers Know, yet embedded here in a dense synthpop milieu. It’s a jarring sonic change – one that takes multiple spins to accustom yourself to yet rewards in spades due to Burhenn’s impressive arrangements. The only significant quibble arrives in the album’s closing third, which is bogged down by a trio of slow numbers in excess of five minutes each.

(The Line Of Best Fit)