Two Jazzy Pop Singers
Laufey and Eloise
Two young ladies released EPs in 2021 and both prefer to go by one name, suggesting that they inhabit a different world from the rest of us. Laufey, who shares her name with the mother of Loki, released Typical of Me; and Eloise, who shares her name with the twelfth-century nun and lover of Peter Abelard, released Somewhere In-Between. Both continue the Tin Pan Alley tradition by writing short, catchy songs with extended chords, ii-V-I progressions, and lyrics about the vicissitudes of love.
They aren’t just playing nostalgia, though. The harmony backing vocals and lo-fi drum samples they favour disclose modern production techniques, and they both have large followings on social media, where they perform stripped-down versions of their songs, accompanying themselves with a guitar. Some people call this style “bedroom pop,” but there’s another way to describe it.
Dare I say it, reader? They sound cosy.
An audience that has been forced to stay inside for two years would probably find cosiness attractive; it’s a style suited to being indoors, to pensiveness.
Eloise’s ‘Intertwined’ is a good example. The lyrics in the verse express someone unsure, someone ruminating: “Maybe I said too much, you know I tend to rush... Maybe it wasn’t meant…” Eloise’s vocal delivery and note choice match the lyrics. In the chorus, she moves to a higher register, but her voice is thin, fragile, and the F# note she sings over the E minor chord (on the word “mind” in “I hope you didn’t change your mind”) is heartbreaking.
The song “Lines” gives the EP its title (“And maybe we were meant to be / Stuck somewhere in-between / The lines that we drew”) and continues the feeling of uncertainty: the guitar chords are in a minor key, spend a lot of time building tension, and never resolve: the song fades out, denying the listener a satisfying conclusion.
While Eloise’s lyrics are regretful, Laufey’s are often rueful: her sorrow doesn’t exclude wit and wry humour. In “James” she falls for a man with dark hair and glasses (resembling the author of Cosy Moments): “He said ‘Who are you? My name is James’ / That’s when I fell into the flames”. The metaphor of “burning in love” is an ancient one, but the rhyme with the man’s first name prevents it from being trite.
It turns out, “he’s a fool, that James” (there the resemblance ends, dear reader): “At one point I just stopped listening / His voice just became too sickening.”
Despite the similarities in the two singers’ styles, their vocal deliveries are different. Eloise sometimes rushes or stretches a melody to fit in more lyrics, whereas Laufey omits lyrics in favour of tasteful scat singing, and has a fast, narrow vibrato that reminds me of some singers from the ‘40s and ‘50s.
Like Eloise, Laufey likes major 7 and minor 9 chords – common in jazz but oddly absent from modern pop. One hopes that the success of these EPs will inspire more harmonic and melodic exploration within the accessible form of the popular song.