In late August, Los Angeles-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Laufey Lin Jónsdóttir — professionally known as Laufey — revealed her charming debut album “Everything I Know About Love”. Born to a classically trained Chinese violinist mother and a jazz-loving Icelandic father, the 23-year-old Laufey displays her classical background by creating a style of music that blends the best of both worlds with her voice and her production crew.
“Everything I Know About Love” consists of 13 intimate tracks, perfect for old souls and hopeless romantics. Weaving pieces of Tchaikovsky and Bach throughout Jónsdóttir’s dreamy and disarming harmonies, the cinematic album chronicles her experiences of falling in and out of love. By the end, listeners are left captivated and eager for more of Jónsdóttir’s ethereal symphony.
If a 1950s classic Hollywood romance were to have a modern-day soundtrack, it would be Jónsdóttir’s slow-burn R&B jazz hybrid, “Fragile.” The album opener showcases the saccharine and unadulterated moments shared with a lover in a budding romance.
Jónsdóttir draws an analogy between the act of falling in love and glass; both are as transparent and fragile as they are violent and sharp. Shattering the metaphorical glass that encases her — in this case the emotional barrier between her and her lover — Jónsdóttir lets her guard down and opens herself to newfound intimacy, tying it back to the theme of fragility: “The soft candle glow, the music so slow, your skin on my skin… I’ve lost all sensibility… I’ve never been so fragile.”
In her second and final verse, Laufey pays homage to her Icelandic roots, referencing a “polar day” — a summertime Arctic phenomenon where the sun remains visible 24 hours of the day. It’s a symbol of not only fleeing time, but also her fleeting lover, and she has now learned that deep, profound love is a double-edged sword. In love, there is gaiety and there is misery; as there is bliss, there are brutal heartbreaks.
Laufey welcomes summer with “Fragile,” reminiscent of jazz revolutionaries Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker. Her dreamy, sultry voice melts alongside the unique bossa nova-style guitar to create a unique, heartstring-pulling and timeless single.
“Everything I Know About Love,” turns the record’s serene sonics upside down with a poppy chorus, proving Jónsdóttir’s capability to transform and transfigure melodies. This song tells the story of all of the magical things Laufey was told falling in love would be like, but hasn’t yet gotten to experience. With a punchy piano stacked upon strings and harmonies, Laufey includes a homage to her classical roots in this track.
While “Everything I Know About Love,” leans more on the vibrant side, “I’ve Never Been In Love Before” is a much more emotional interlude, and pays homage to Chet Baker. Laufey melds elements of modern music with jazz standards, beginning with and ending with acapella, articulating the push and pull of love.
Jónsdóttir’s other tracks include “Beautiful Stranger,” which portrays her spotting a beautiful man in public in which she exchanges glances with but never actually speaks with. She then continues to daydream about what could have been, singing, “What if I would’ve stayed on the train, dared to stand up and ask for his name?”
Her viral hit “Valentine” embodies the bewildering, electrifying and shocking feeling of falling in love with someone and discovering they like you back. The song consists of magical piano flares, taking inspiration from the sounds of the jazz-age.
From the carefully crafted hopeless-romantic lyrics to the soft, jazz and classical reviving instrumentals, “Everything I Know About Love” is a refreshing listening experience in an oversaturated music industry.
With her unique take on pop and voice for the ages, Laufey is one of a kind, and a voice on the rise.