Rae Morris perfects her craft on sophomore album Someone Out There
Precisely three years and one week after the launch of her debut album Unguarded, Rae Morris returned with her sophomore record titled Someone Out There. The singer-songwriter and more recently creator of electronic pop bops, took her sweet time, both for the making of the album and for the promotion leading up to the release. After three singles and two buzz singles Someone Out There is finally here and no one is going to talk about the long wait anymore after hearing her impressive artistic growth.
Someone Out There, mostly written and produced by Rae herself in collaboration with Benjamin Fryars Garrett, starts out with the brilliant one-two punch of ‘Push Me To My Limit’ and ‘Reborn’. The first is a stripped back, almost a capella, ballad describing the heartbreaking struggles within a toxic relationship that had to end, while the uplifting and empowering ‘Reborn’ is all about leaving that hurt behind and being able to look forward and make your own choices again. Quite the way to kick off a sophomore record everyone, take notes for inspiration!
While Morris and her team decided to promote the upcoming release with the catchiest and most upbeat tracks, the irresistible singles ‘Do It’ and ‘Atletico’, she hasn’t completely disregarded the piano based singer-songwriter pop that dominated her debut. The title track is a sweet and hopeful ballad with a message for those with a broken heart who believe they might never find somebody else again. Closing track ‘Dancing With Character’ is a moving midtempo that tells the story of a couple who goes to the same cafe to dance every single night. After the lady passes away, he keeps coming back to dance on his own while keeping her in his mind. Morris does the beautiful story justice with touching lyrics that never sound too cheesy.
The biggest leap forward Rae Morris took while creating Someone Out There is definitely her willingness to experiment. On a track like ‘Rose Garden’, she managed to think completely out of the box, both in terms of build up and production. Seemingly taking inspiration from greats like Björk and Kate Bush, she surprises with sudden changes of pace and the mix of piano and synths and beats. She reaches her full potential on ‘Lower The Tone’, an atmospheric track that builds up to a sublime climax with unexpected but catchy hooks and a flawless and exciting production sound.
Rae Morris plays it less safe on her sophomore album with a more experimental and electronic sound, but not without delivering some outstanding choruses. Her warm vocals are still very much the centre of it all and her lyrics go deeper than last time around. The progress she made in a few years already makes me excited for what is to come! For now I will just play the hell out of this one, that will undoubtedly end up being one of my favourite albums of the year!
Great review! This is actually my introduction to Rae Morris and I’m sold – this woman is such a talented singer and lyricist! Her voice is gorgeous. You’re right – she does sound a bit like Björk! Do you recommend Unguarded?