Lila Tristram – America – Album Review

Lila Tristram is a UK-based singer-songwriter who has previously released a few solo EPs.  This is her first full-length album, and unlike her EPs, this is a much more fleshed-out affair as she is accompanied by a band.  It opens with the title track, Tristram’s quiet and winsome vocals over quietly strummed guitar, before building to a slow blissed-out plod as Tristram whispers “I’ve always had a thing about America… I’ve always had a dream about America.”  Baby picks up the pace a bit with keyboards and guitar on a lovely, regretful song.

Closer is another slow, unhurried plod, and on this and Sounds Like Easter, she sounds a little like Aoife Nessa Frances.  The latter builds into some excellent frenzied guitar work, and she repeats this later on the album with Martha May, which has a decidedly rocky conclusion.  On the other end of the scale, Hey Mother is a timeless folk-tinged piano piece.  The album ends with arguably its finest track.  Hallelujah has a glum and downbeat opening, all echoey and doomy, but gradually builds to a tremendous coda.

A promising debut from Lila Tristram, who seems to have expanded her musical boundaries and settled on a sound that really suits her.

Baby