Album Review: Lianne La Havas

Lianne La Havas, for the most part, has flown under the radar. Despite releasing two albums in 2010s, La Havas has yet to garner the widespread attention and acclaim that (we personally think) she deserves. Her previous albums 2012’s Is Your Love Big Enough and 2015’s Blood barely made any noise in the charts, as La Havas may soon be looked at as 2010’s best kept secret.

However, we have a feeling this is all about to change. Lianne La Havas released her self-titled album back in July, and it’s quickly built up some momentum. This may just be La Havas’ most successful album to date. If this has gotten you curious about the album, you may want to keep reading as we take a deep dive into Lianne La Havas’ latest release!

Lianne La Havas


While a lot can be said about the musicality of the album, we have to talk about the raw emotion behind it. This album is a concept album that follows the trajectory of a relationship, from its happy beginning to the much somber ending.

There’s no denying that La Havas’ work has always been quite personal but this album certainly feels as if it’s been ripped out of La Havas herself for the world to consume. However, what’s interesting about this album and the songs it contains is the nuanced discussions it opens up about relationships without being melodramatic. Songs such as “Paper Thin” paints a subtle portrait of an individual wrought with insecurity and anxiety to the point that it eats away at their entire being set to the background of soothing acoustic guitar playing.


Another notable track on the album is La Havas’ cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes”. Despite being someone else’s work, the song fits in pretty well with the theme of the album. Like the original, the song makes heavy use of delay pedals that add an entirely different layer of atmosphere and rhythm to the song. However, La Havas does change the song up a little. It’s noticeably slowed down — giving the song a much more intimate vibe. This is undoubtedly gonna be one of the more popular tracks on the album, as it’s already gotten the attention of music critics and fans with sole credit to La Havas for making the track her own.

Personal Touch


Lastly, we have to talk about the production on the album. Most of the tracks have a raw feel about them, as they sound as if they’re closer to live performances than studio recordings. This helps give the album a more personal touch, removing the often necessary facade of overproduction and replacing it with a rawness that makes it seem like you’re listening to a conversation that you aren’t supposed to be hearing. Believe us when we say that this helped the album in every way. While it may not be the best route to take for all recording artists we can honestly say that this is the only way this album could have been made.

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IMAGE CREDIT: Ludovic ETIENNE under CC BY 2.0