The Mynabirds
Lovers Know
Saddle Creek
With her smoky voice and brooding aura, Laura Burhenn could easily have been an elegant torch singer in an earlier era. On the thoroughly winning Lovers Know, her third album as The Mynabirds, the charismatic LA-based singer modifies with the folksy chamber pop of previous albums, opening up the sound to accommodate synths and electronic beats, hinting R&B influences. While these flashier elements might suggest a big shift in direction, Burhennn’s soulful gravity is unchanged. From “All My Heart,” where she growls, “I don’t want half of anything,” to “Velveteen,” which finds Burhenn sighing, “I’m fragile, as fragile as can be” (not entirely persuasively), she captures the emotional highs and lows of restless yearning with rare skill.
