by If you enjoy eccentric indie singer-songwriter projects like Feist, Of Monsters and Men, or even Florence + The Machine, you will love the luscious harmony-laden tracks of Briana Marela, a Seattle based singer-songwriter-composer who released her debut full-length All Around Us in August of last year.
The album opens with the ethereal track “Follow It.” The song has heavy pop influence, with elements of acoustic rock. Marela’s voice is showcased against a mellow backdrop of percussion and airy backing vocals. The instrumentation is kept simple making it an inviting doorway to the rest of the album.
“Take Care of Me” is a catchy dream pop piece with an M.I.A. meets Enya feel. It hooks the listener and preludes the style of the rest of the album. “Friend Tonight” is a vocal-driven indie anthem. It’s driven by that Pacific Northwest sound that is hard to describe, but easy to listen to. Marela’s soft vocals are offset by retro synths and big percussion, making it a song for road tripping and slow-dancing.
The album slows down with “Dani,” a ballad that will tug at your heart. Ethereal strings are accompanied by simple, reverb drenched piano chords with focus on the vocals. Following it, “Surrender” picks up the pace and introduces a more experimental sound with a collage of audial textures. The melody is clear, crisp, and hook laden. The line “I’ll give you all I’ve got” stands out in the middle and gives the listener something to hold onto in the organized chaos of this unique dream-pop piece.
Tracks like “I Don’t Belong to You,” which returns to the simplistic backing track found at the start of the album, and “Everything is New,” a reverb-drenched, nearly a cappella track, perfectly showcase Marela’s unique style.
Towards the end of the LP, the title track “All Around Us” has the sound of something lurking just beneath the surface of a placid lake, pairing a slow tempo with urgent vocals. The 7-minute “Further” slowly builds from instrumental to the familiar unique pop style of the rest of the album to make for a satisfying closer.
The album is an altogether dreamy piece of art, much like a Rothko painting or needle-felted wool dragon.
(All Around Us is available digitally via Marela’s Bandcamp page for $9. Stream “Take Care of Me” below.)
