Heard It In A Past Life – Maggie Rogers (as told by Mr. Bones)

It has indeed been a (short) strange trip for Maggie Rogers. In her first full length release following her rocketing to stardom after being “discovered” by producer Pharrell Williams, she presents both her old synth accented folk sound (Alaska & On+Off) and new, highly produced power pop numbers such as Knife & Retrograde. The album captures the uncertainty about her rapid transition from art student to pop phenom in lines like “people change, overnight …things get strange but I’m alright”. As one who first heard Rogers doing an angelic cover of Angel From Montgomery, this reviewer hopes that future releases will sound a bit more like the pre-fame Maggie but either way I’ll be interested in what she has to say and the sound behind her message.

FCC: #10

1 Give A Little – catchy synth driven toe tapper with dreamy back vocals and a hint of calypso (fast, 3:52)***
2 Overnight – heavy syncopation on this commentary about expectations of respect, could be about a beau or her record company (med, 3:52)**
3 The Knife – heavy synth work overwhelms her vocals (med, 4:00)
4 Alaska – etherial story of walking off one’s anxiety in the beauty of the Alaskan outback (med, 3:08)***
5 Light On – joyful story of meeting someone half way & having no regrets if it doesn’t work with interesting breaks (fast, 3:54)**
6 Past Life - emotional piano driven ballad ala Stevie Nicks (slow, 3:36)*
7 Say It – slow & dreamy with falsetto vocals (slow, 3:41)
8 On + Off – interesting bass & synth weave around a steady piano (slow, 3:42)*
9 Fallingwater – minimal synth work allow her sublime vocals to shine here (med, 4:33)***
10 Retrograde – sonic smorgasbord of synth sounds that somehow works (fast, 4:11)* FCC
11 Burning – heavy synth & drums reminiscent of Laurie Anderson (med, 3:34)
12 Back In My Body – interesting interleave of downtempo verses against a powerful chorus in a song about self introspection (med, 4:10)***

Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MerfzFYkx2o&list=PLA2dZ3dltqVv1n8ik2j2PbIXYpNeHQOyk