Even if Molly Burch’s debut album was a lazily written, generic contribution to the indie genre, her smooth vocals and impressive range would be enough reason to listen to Please Be Mine (I would describe her voice as a cross between Lana Del Rey and Zooey Deschanel). Luckily, Burch’s songwriting is as equally satisfying as her vocals, lending a clarity to feelings of loneliness, independence, and romance that everyone has felt but few people know how to express. The quality of Please Be Mine is even more impressive when you consider that Burch and her band recorded the whole album in just two days.
Please Be Mine carries traces of timeless 1960s love ballads in its instrumentals (Burch has cited artists such as Sam Cooke as influences), but modern times allow for an honesty in Burch’s lyrics that was not possible for female artists in the past- or at least not for female artists that wanted to be commercially successful. It’s not that Burch’s lyrics are explicit, but while popular female artists of the 60s were usually (the later 60s saw more exceptions to this trend) restricted to singing about being happy to have a man or sad to have lost him, Burch can explore these situations with a more complex and empowering range of emotions. In tracks like “Not Today,” Burch acknowledges the complications of loving someone but knowing you deserve better, while not shying away from more vulnerable states of mind in tracks like “Downhearted.”
Whether you’re looking for an empowering female artist, an album to express your feelings after a breakup, or just need something new to listen to, you can’t go wrong with Please Be Mine. Its 10 tracks make for a fairly quick listen, although if you don’t want to be reminded that you have sad feelings you may want to save it for another day. Please Be Mine is an emotionally and technically satisfying album, and the best part is that it’s only Molly Burch’s first official release. She is bound to be releasing music worth hearing in the years to come, so keep an ear out for her next release.
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