Laurie Anderson’s New LP Is “Unexpectedly Soothing,” Writes The Quietus

The Quietus is effusive about the new album from Laurie Anderson, which is based on the flight journals of Amelia Earhart. “Anderson wrangles the joy of discovery and achievement in a balance with the foreboding of an ending we already know,” the site writes. “String arrangements are the primary medium of Amelia, on a spectrum from Anderson’s solo viola to a string trio to the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno. This continuously swelling and contracting palette is a perfect match to her descriptions of distant rolling seas and hills below. Field recordings… provide accents to these pastoral images…”

It continues, “Despite the inevitable ending, Amelia is an unexpectedly soothing record. This is largely down to Anderson having a calm, meditative quality to her voice that holds steady whether the arrangement is minimalist or intense. But much of the relaxing quality of the album is also related to Anderson’s ability to look at a figure frequently only cast in tragedy and mystery as a whole person.” Read more here; the album is at radio now from Nonesuch.