Laufey’s debut Everything I Know About Love paints jazz in a brand new light

As the daughter of a classically-trained Chinese violinist mother and a jazz-loving Icelandic father, Laufey creates a style of music that marries the best of both worlds. The result: an album as intimate as it is cinematic. Rose-tinted melodies wrap around delicate harmonies and show off Jónsdóttir’s disarming vocals as she chronicles her experiences of falling in and out of love in the digital age, and 12 tracks feel not quite long enough to experience the ethereal beauty of Laufey’s sonic universe.

As you would hope for a debut album, Everything I Know About Love boasts an array of meticulously crafted soundscapes. “Above The Chinese Restaurant” impresses with swooning vocals layered over slow-dancing piano lines while “What Love Will Do To You” comes dressed in jazzy percussion and gentle nostalgia. And just when you think you have her all figured out, title track “Everything I Know About Love” turns the record’s serene sonics upside down with a poppy chorus that rivals Masie Peters and mxmtoon. Possibly the most contemporary of the lot, it proves that Jónsdóttir is more than capable of transformation and transfiguration.

Listening to Jónsdóttir’s soulful vocals surrounded by gorgeously sweeping orchestral arrangements, it’s hard not to think of old Hollywood and 1950s Disney. There is something undeniably comforting to a sound that blends old and new - A safe space to dream and wander along the golden rays of intricate harmonies into a grand cinematic ballroom.

With her unique take on pop and a voice for the ages, Laufey is one of a kind. Undoubtedly one of the greats of her generation, the sky is the limit for this voice on the rise.