Carla J Easton has had a busy few years, co-writing/directing and narrating the wonderful Since Yesterday documentary, and the promo that went along with it, and a Hen Hoose Collective album, The Twelve, in January (review here). Now she has followed up her 2023 solo album, Sugar Honey with the excellent I Think That I Might Love You in May. Taking her motivation from many of the inspirational women featured in Since Yesterday, and being encouraged to pick up a guitar by Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines, who Carla has toured with since 2017, on this new record she has stepped out from behind her synths and keyboards to play guitar for the first time, and the results are a captivating new chapter in her glittering career. I’m sure I read something somewhere about a humorous trip to look at a second hand guitar and taking Eugene with her, he played a few Vaselines numbers with the guy then engaging them in a conversation about Nirvana without realising who he was in the presence of…
Anyway, I think that I might love I Think That I Might Love You…in fact there is no think about it, I love this album unconditionally. Every single song is like a gratifying instant rush of dopamine, packed with golden sunshine drenched euphoric choruses and catchy hooks that radiate the warmth of a perfect summers day that has any thoughts of negativity or melancholy melt away as you bask in the warming glow of the unbridled melodies, leaving you with a sense of joyful tranquility.
The album opens with the sub two minute high spirited head rush of single Oh Yeah, the drums providing a solid driving heartbeat to the jangly guitars and Carla’s strident vocal. That solid beat remains at the core of Red Kites in the Sun, the song which gives the album its title, with the addition of atmospheric harmonica the melody and vocals surge to an intoxicating conclusion. I can imagine lying back in the sun listening to this while watching Red Kites wheel and effortlessly ride the thermals. The bouyant feeling of the music continues into Never Really Wanted to Say, with guitars that hint at the influence of her guitar mentor.
The melancholic reflection of Pillars Crash Down brings the tempo down as Carla muses on a relationship which isn’t all it was meant to be, the pace escalating again with a refreshing breeze of optimism as the song closes out. Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend is described by Carla as the ubiquitous synth pop banger on the album, giving off a vibe of breezy effervescence and contagious anticipation. You Might Be the Sun kicks of with the more minimalistic arrangement of an electric drum beat and acoustic guitar, building with a wistfully soaring spirit and a harmony packed refrain. From Red Kites to Parakeets and Foxes, Really Really Really Really Sad is anything but… perhaps one of the most feel-good serotonin-boosting songs on the album with its deliberate contradiction between the songs chorus and the jubilant walking on air mood of the music.
The spirited words of encouragement of Lift Your Head Up Kid follows and gives off an air of Ronettes/Crystals 60s girl groups. Talking of words of encouragement, Start It Again is the song on the album that I have the most affinity with from a personal perspective. One of the signs of a great song for me is when you listen to lyrics that feel as if they are speaking straight to you, giving you a feeling of emotional and spiritual connection and a peaceful reassurance that all will be well, I’m sure I’m not alone in recognising that Start It Again is just that song. As we reach the end of the album the penultimate song Moth to a Flame is a delicately soulful folk tinged torch song, with lyrics using the moth analogy in recognition that we are sometimes drawn to the wrong people who will ultimately cause us pain.
Carla leaves us with our hearts full to bursting on the profoundly affecting If You Found a Thread, a perfectly weaved soul stirring sonic tapestry with a message of positivity and togetherness and the pulling together on that thread of commonality, no matter who you are or where you are on the planet. Gently elegiac and utterly absorbing in equal measure.