Alan Lauris Releases A Graceful Pop Opus

A new album release from Alan Lauris delivers a beautiful combination of what I would consider to be almost orchestral electronic and indie blended with cinematic and vast undertones, but with colorful and inventive pop coatings.

One of the things I love most about the Break album is the simple fact that Alan can construct and build these songs in a way that gives them their own atmosphere.

There are no two songs that are exactly like; certain tracks feel way more cinematic than others, while there are songs that sound almost like they came straight out of a new wave radio station in 1988.

I love this combination of vintage, old school styles with the newer approach, and also blending in this cinematic composition and almost symphonic underbelly with that pop tonality.

This is an album that creates an entire world for you to step into.

The record opens up with a song called " I dream of you in black and white", which boasts this beautifully symphonic and almost dreamlike feel as the song builds and unfolds, you get pulled into this aesthetic, and once you're in there, you just don't want to leave.

This track is a very good way to introduce the record, but it does not give you the full effect of what some of the other songs will offer, so listening to the whole album is an absolute must.

A lot of things surprised me about this release, and the deeper I went into it, the more I experienced some of the influences that Alan has taken on over the years and has helped him construct this album.

It's all quite beautiful, very gracefully done if you ask me, and some of this stuff is just classic pop songs that again come across vintage and new approaches and tones, which is something that I know he paid a lot of attention to when writing a record.

But there was a lot of detail and attention paid to the tones of the instruments. pianos, synths, guitars, and even vocals.

Everything falls into place almost like puzzle pieces, and the record boasts a solid indie-pop approach with gorgeous textural layers to add that spacious feeling and give even more depth to songs that already feel like they're coming from someplace genuine.

You do find yourself paying attention to the lyrics quite often. This is an album that feels almost like watching a film or reading a book. The songs serve almost like chapters.

I'm not saying it is a full-on concept record, but it certainly feels that way at times.

Songs do interconnect with each other in different ways, and the album gives you a full experience.

Tracks like "The songs" feel a bit robust, theatrical, and almost animated, with amazing guitar work, and percussion that drives the song but also lets it feel almost alive and breathing at the same time.

You can hear a different vibe on songs like this one.

The same goes for songs like "Parades" which is absolutely engulfing and as you get swallowed up by the song, you can start to feel a lot of the emotional backbone that it boasts.

A lot of this record is very unafraid. A little bit vulnerable here and there, but it feels like this is something that needed to happen for Alan.

It just seems like the kind of record that may have been cathartic for him to write and release. 

There's a lot of those layers going on, and it's not just textural. It's lyrical as well. He lets a lot of inner thought come spilling out for all the soak up, and it's kind of brave.

This is an album that has a pop underbelly to it, but it is built with fewer boundaries than the norm, which I found refreshing.

There are so many beautiful landscapes for your ears to sort of drink in, and you find yourself swimming through this record.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, it's not all ethereal, dreamlike, theatrical, or even cinematic. A lot of tracks give me that vibe, but some songs are just straight pop bangers.

"The pages are missing" serves as a perfect example of exactly that.

The track comes reeling in with an ascending synth line and comes through with a danceable beat, classic pop approach, and the music of it feels like something Danny Elfman would do. Oingo Boingo style.

Vocally, the whole record has a gracefulness to it, as I mentioned before. I love how sometimes vocals are used as instruments themselves, and how the atmospheres of this record are built with amazing intricacies, but also a free flow that feels completely natural.

This was an outstanding record and again, I suggest listening to this album in full, from start to finish.

This is a record meant to be listened to all the way through in one shot. It is an experience. It is an escape.

Take a deep dive into this one and remember where you heard it first.

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