Låpsley

Long Way Home

BY Cam LindsayPublished Mar 2, 2016

8
Holly Låpsley Fletcher is a young singer-songwriter-producer from Liverpool whose wisdom and proficiency transcend her 19 years of age. Sharing the same label and silky powerhouse vocals as Adele has resulted in frequent comparisons to the world's biggest-selling artist, but Låpsley is a self-made artist. Unlike Adele's 25, there's no throng of professional songwriters pitching in on Long Way Home; every track was written, produced and engineered (with a little help from XL in-house producer Rodaidh McDonald) by Låpsley herself.
 
Though she's only been a professional songwriter for a few years, Låpsley is a pro at stirring up deep, flooding emotions using very little. The spacious, minimalistic arrangements elevate her style of ruminative balladry to make tracks like "Hurt Me," "Painter" or "Station" some of the finest examples of contemporary pop around.
 
Låpsley has expressed a fondness for writing sad songs, and while there's a pervasive melancholy to Long Way Home, it remains both accessible and sonically explorative throughout. If she continues to grow as both a songwriter and producer, she could legitimately become an Adele-type figure for those who like their ballads a little less formulaic.
(XL Recordings)

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