…beauty and pity, LUCY ROSE CASH Laugh It Off
Lucy Rose Cash Laugh It Off is available on Windswept Perfectionist, Apple Music
by Walter Price
Is there a word for something in between contentment and resentment? If there were, I’d say it would be a fine way to start to define Lucy Rose Cash’s song, “Laugh It Off”. Taken from her staggeringly personal “Windswept Perfectionist” album, there’s an almost uneasy conversation happening.
“I’ll clean up your mess/ Make it look pretty/ All organised a mix of beauty and pity/ But it only takes you a few days/ To fall apart again/ But I’ll — Laugh it off/ When everything’s on fire/ You say you’re fine but I know you’re a liar/ Laugh it off/ A sound for the ages/ A cry for help/ A scream of rage…”.
Who or what is Cash speaking to? When verses can allow the audience to conjure up their very own imagery or meaning, there’s a certain awareness that’s allowed to flourish. And I think this song does this. Myself, I thought this was an internal conversation, at another point I thought it was negotiating with the past, and at one other soft conclusion, I thought this could be a cynical view of the trial and tribulations of the pandemic era. Esoteric, if you will…
Maybe there’s a clue within Cash’s open-book origin story for “Windswept Perfectionist”, from Bandcamp she shares, “I wrote these songs at bus stops and on subway trains, with scraps of melody and an overflow of words. It is a somewhat melancholy outline of the past few years, though all the songs were written in the span of a few months.
“This album is my own coming-of-age and a selective journey through my worst feelings of malaise as well as some of my better days. I think we all feel as if we’ve lost the past few years of our lives, but this album is a reflection of all the raw memories and the brief moments of joy I have found in them now. This is a challenge to perfectionism in all its intricate flaws. I hope one might find solace in the lyrics and vocals, as I feel they have saved me in more ways than one.”
Lucy Rose Cash paints palpable if not heavy scenes of lived memories throughout her album. With the daunting moments often smoothed by Cash’s lullaby vocals and alt-Americana arrangements. Songs to contemplate and for people who like to feel something.
You can stream “Laugh It Off”, here at the GTC.
LUCY ROSE CASH Laugh It Off
Artist photo, artwork, and quote via Bandcamp.
Lucy Rose Cash: Vocals, Guitar
Julia Band Orange: Drums
Kritty Uranowski: Guitar, Keys
Jose Contreras: Bass
Produced by Jose Contreras & Kritty Uranowski
All songs written by Lucy Rose Cash
“Influenced by artists such as Joni Mitchell and Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy brings her own haunting melancholy to tracks exploring the wisdom gained through youthful experience in real-time.” – bio