It’s not every day that you hear a voice that could fill a stadium. A voice that makes you both want to belt out along with the singer and listen silently. The 2023 album Lush pulls the listener to do exactly those through singer-songwriter Lauren Glick’s soul-filled, blues rock voice. Glick, based in Ocean City, Maryland, is often compared to the electric Janis Joplin. With her tonal cry and captivating personality that one can sense through Lush, who could question the comparison? She also utilizes further inspirations of Led Zeppelin, Grace Slick, Carol King, Stevie Nicks, and more. These blues rock legends show that Glick has high standards, and a listen to her new album, the second since her 2017 Martinis in Heaven, proves that she uses them to her advantage.
The record Lush opens with “Don’t Add Up,” an immediate introduction to the force that both her voice and the rest of the songs will hold. With grit in her tone, Lauren Glick delivers a power ballad that involves technical elements common to the rest of the album: consistent drum and piano beats, a swaying back-and-forth of the wailing guitar, and, of course, her incredible voice. Then, stylistically, the singer includes phrases of repetition, which also sets out for similarities in the following eight tracks.
In “Don’t Add Up” specifically, she constantly rounds back to the theme of confronting a failing lover. Through repetitive expressions, she reinforces what she wants to say in the lyrics, “What you call love and trust just ain’t enough, so I’m through.” The distrust and upset that the sentiment of this line displays also establishes the tone for the entirety of Lush.
Though Lush does contain those melancholic feelings towards unhappy love, Lauren Glick finds a more positive note in track 4, “Love and Peace,” in which she details that she tries to follow a high road in life. She repeats that she is, “wishing you love and peace,” which furthers the importance of the song’s title.
In an interview with Michael Limnios of the Blues Network, she states, “I always strive for peace and love and living as one. Also, empowerment. I try to write music that has the ability to take you out of the funk (the bad kind of funk!) and regain your power.” As Glick belts in the end of the song “Love and Peace” that repeated line of, “wishing you love and peace,” it feels like she is speaking to anyone, rather than a shortcoming in love.
Lush ends on “Perfectly Capable,” which completes the album with a statement of self-sufficiency in the face of a negative situation. Though this theme continues a sort-of adversity that much of the record explores, Glick shows that she is powerfully standing against that adversity.
Lauren Glick is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, a family woman, a Yoga teacher, and a killer singer-songwriter specializing in souls-y blues rock. She combines grit and heartfelt-ness in her music, particularly in the new Lush. The musician touches on the negativity that the world and especially relationships can provide. However, through her voice, lyrics, and general presence expressed throughout the album, she tells the listener that I can stand up against such difficulty.
Reviewed by Krista Spies
