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Feb 15, 2022This solid effort is entirely worthy of whatever acclaim it receives—and it should garner plenty—offering an honest spoonful of hesitantly optimistic sugar to kill the aftertaste of some particularly bitter medicine.
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MojoFeb 14, 2022Lighten Up takes its sometimes melancholy frown, turns it upside down and delivers an infectious beam of musical sunshine. [Mar 2022, p.82]
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Feb 14, 2022With her latest album, Lighten Up, Rae keeps the songwriting focused and tight while broadening her stylistic palette, landing on a sound that’s less acutely folksy and more classic, unpretentious pop music.
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Feb 14, 2022The mishmash creates a decorative delight rather than cacophony, from the old-fashioned string arrangements on “Cosmic Sigh” to the more contemporary electric guitar licks that adorn the melody of “True Love’s Face”.
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Feb 14, 2022Rae’s measured, river-clear voice is a thing to behold too, buoyed by piano, organ, pedal steel and unobtrusive guitar. It’s the kind of record that recalls the muted grandeur of Bobbie Gentry or Judee Sill.