Album Review: New Sun Rising

The two opening tracks of LA Thompson’s 2017 LP New Sun Rising, titled Changed My Life and You Said have a particular Country feel, being driven by guitars and her voice.

Song three Divided has a dance music feel and is really quite ‘boppy’ for want of a word that doesn’t make me sound like I’m 90 years old.

It’s Raining brings the tempo down a little before the first ballad on the album; Reach Out is gentle and has her really using her voice very well, showing the signs of some vocal coaching.

The album’s title track New Sun Rising begins with an up tempo chorus then moves half time into the verse, before the pre-chorus, and chorus, build again. The half speed verses then full speed chorus structure keeps the song interesting. Lyrically it sounds like a coming to terms with life change, like a relationship ending.

Without A Sound builds gently. It’s another Country tinged pop song, but with a slightly darker feel. It stands out for me, and it’s my favourite tune on the album.

Time On My Hands is a happier up tempo tune, a song of freedom, of literally having time on the author’s hands.

The last original tune on the album, Know Where You’re Going is a nice instrumental.

The album closes with a remix of the album’s opening song Changed My Life. It’s a fuller and richer remix. There’s nothing at all wrong with the original mix, but this has more vocal multi-tracking and the instrumentation covers more of the listening spectrum, the tops are crisper, and the bottom end is fatter.

With plans to release remixes of each song during the next two years, this is a nice all-round album. LA has a rich voice, and this album sits in the Pop Country genre very well.