Morly Til I Start Speaking – 7th Level Music

Top 30 albums of 2021: #’s 25 – 21

Let’s not waste time. Here are the records that cracked my top 25 (of over 60) that I reviewed last year.

#25: The Beths – Auckland, New Zealand, 2020

This delightful live album from The Beths is full of joy. The band was over the moon, the crowd was ecstatic, and daring to open with “I’m Not Getting Excited” was a gutsy move when everyone in the place was bursting with energy.

#24: Acid Dad – Take It from the Dead

Acid Dad were a band I’d heard a lot about, yet didn’t know much about them. I caught them live about an hour from my house and was sold within two songs. Take It from the Dead is a fine psych-rock record with touches of surf that make it a standout.

#23: Ty Segall – Harmonizer

Ty Segall added a bunch of synths and electronic beats to his already heavy fuzz rock, and the result, Harmonizer, was impressive. He showed his love for krautrock and even dance rock, and that he could pull off both genres as easily as psych jams.

#22: Morly – Till I Start Speaking

Easily one of the loveliest and sexiest albums of 2022, Till I Start Speaking is a great mix of Morly’s vocals, electro-beats, and synths. I hadn’t heard of Morly until this record was sent to me, and it was a pleasant discovery.

#21: Pearl & The Oysters – Flowerland

Speaking of lovely records, here’s another one. Bossa nova, disco, ambient, and house all merge together for an album as pretty and trippy as its cover.

Who makes the top 20? You’ll learn tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Morly – ‘Til I Start Speaking

Every track on this album is lovely.

That’s the best way I can describe Morly‘s ‘Til I Start Speaking. On it, Katy Morley explores themes of self-empowerment, love, and introspection. None of it is maudlin. It’s all gorgeous ballads and sultry beats.

The title track (parts 1 and 2) opens the record, beginning with softly rising synths and subdued vocal sounds that build into a sexy jam. The subtle piano chords of “Dance to You” melt like a candle next to a warm, luxurious bathtub as Morley sings lyrics like “I can’t stop listening to this tape you played me the night you took my hand and whispered, come on let’s pretend we’re in love.”

That torch song piano returns on “Sleeping in My Own Bed,” a song about Morley missing her lover (“Only dreams to keep me warm.”), but knowing she’ll be happy and comfortable sleeping at her own place and enjoying the good time she had. The gospel-influenced backing vocals on “Wasted” are a great touch in a song that almost could be a praise of the Lord Almighty as much as a lover.

“Twain Harte” starts with breathy, nearly acapella vocals from Morley until they’re joined by simple, soft piano key strokes and some more gospel touches (organ, backing hums). The guitar on “Up Above” is like something out of a dreamy, classic country bar that only seems to exist in fun roadtrip movies. “I don’t know what I’ve been doing lately,” Morley sings n the opening of “Jazz Angel (Bill).” It’s the kind of song that makes you pause and take a look around at what’s happening – something we all need to do now and then.

“Savior Mind Tattoo” has both an intriguing title and an intriguing sound, mixing what sounds like vibraphone with a brush-stroked snare drum and that soft piano that mixes so well with Morley’s voice. “Where were you the night when I wasn’t sleeping?”, Morley asks on “Superlunar” – a song about longing and what comes after that longing is quenched. The closing track, “Eilogy,” adds some trip hop beats to the mix for good measure as Morley sings about heartbreak and making amends.

The whole album is like a caress from a lover you think about making a life with, but you’re not sure if doing such a thing would screw up what you have. You feel like you’ll both be okay with the few moments you have, but, still, like Morley, you wonder…

Keep your mind open

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Morly announces debut album, “‘Til I Start Speaking,” and new single – “Dance to You.”

Visual artist and singer-songwriter Morly (aka Katy Morley) announces her debut album ‘Til I Start Speaking, out August 20th on Cascine, and shares new single/video “Dance to You.” Morley’s soft, swooning strain of storyteller pop has distilled across the past half decade into an increasingly hushed and heartfelt private language, as lived in as it is lyrical. Her debut full-length took shape slowly during stints in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and London, stripping back the melodies to their essence, driven by a yearning to “reach ‘the other side,’ to live in and be art and music.” The songs that emerged are time-worn, aching, and acoustically rich, like hymns or traditionals, traced in piano, voice, and percussion. She describes the creation process as almost a “subconscious exorcism,” casting out old ghosts and outgrown loves.

After establishing her singular style with a series of EPs — In Defense of My Muse (2015), Something More Holy (2016) and Sleeping In My Own Bed (2017) — Morley took some necessary time away from the public eye as she battled chronic illness. She returns now with newfound strength and focused sound. Much of ‘Til I Start Speaking revealed itself as she found herself falling in love with someone across the Atlantic. The Minneapolis-born artist relocated from her homebase in Los Angeles to London this year, joining her partner, who was “a beam of light irrupting into the darkness” of her deteriorating health. The album paints a portrait of realizing you’re in love. It’s also the result of Morley finding herself at the crossroads of graduate school and considering pursuing music full time. Morley felt adrift and estranged from herself, but year by year she’s closed that gap in incremental ways: studying piano, pursuing painting (her artwork adorns the sleeves of her entire discography), unlearning self-doubt, trusting one’s inner voice.

Working with frequent collaborator Christopher Stracey, Morley followed a muse of stillness and naturalism, allowing each composition to flower in its own fluid, elegant way – arriving finally at a sequence he quipped as “nine sleep bangers and a bop.” There is indeed a sensuous, low-lidded mood to this music, as though sung at a quiet hour in an intimate setting, a quality she ascribes to her affinity for conscious listening: “It’s in my own silence that the world really comes alive, and I see the deep connections.” Morley’s voice moves in reflective pools, spotlit but subdued, full of lilts and breathy pauses. The effect is one of patience and hidden wisdom, transmuting sorrow into strength, inspired by her hero Nina Simone’s ability to “take the saddest feeling and alchemize it into joy.”

‘Til I Start Speaking represents a stylistic movement towards organic sounds that was hinted towards in Morley’s previous works, blending her love of classic acoustic songwriting and minimal electronic music. This manifests in new single “Dance to You,” the follow-up to previously released single “Twain Harte.” “Dance to You” opens with piano before expanding with Morley’s soothing voice and a velvety bass line and a mellow beat. Morley elaborates: “‘Dance to You’ is about the need for–and is the vehicle for–a benevolent exorcism. It sprang from an encounter with someone so radiant to me that they helped light my way, but that I had to outgrow in order to see my own brilliance: I can’t grow/inside your glow.”

The incredible accompanying video, directed by Lawrence Pumfrey and choreographed by Katya Bourviski, explores the sort of dream state and rush of inspiring infatuation, but also its malleability and destabilizing effect. “Katya and I talked about my experiences as a young artist finding my feet in a difficult industry, especially with flagging health, and the constant pressure to define and sell yourself which helped to inform the structure of the piece,” says Morley. “It’s also partially inspired by Pina Bausch’s dance, Kontakthof.”
Watch “Dance to You” Video

Pre-order ‘Til I Start Speaking

Stream “Twain Harte”‘Til I Start Speaking Tracklist
1. Til I Start Speaking (I & II)
2. Dance to You
3. Sleeping in My Own Bed
4. Wasted5. Twain Harte
6. Up Above
7. Jazz Angel (Bill)
8. Savior Mind Tattoo
9. Superlunar
10. Eliogy
11. Feels (Bonus Track)

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]