Review: Briana Marela – All Around Us

Briana Marela
All Around Us

Jagjaguwar
Street: 08.21
Briana Marela = Purity Ring / Grouper

There’s something transcendent about Briana Marela’s second album All Around Us, once I get past the feeling that it sounds like Purity Ring songs played with live instruments. Comparisons to Purity Ring are inevitable once you hear the album, but that’s not to discredit Marela’s, well, musical purity. Marela’s ethereal vocals gently ride the crest of looping sounds and delicate rhythms, while her lyrics speak of finding strength within to overcome hardship and unite through friendship and music. Marela’s music doesn’t just aim to uplift the human conscience; it ultimately uplifts the human body and experience to another realm. “Time is love and love is the time it takes to know someone so well,” sings Marela on “All Around Us.” There’s nothing passive about this album, and its sincerity is palpable once you take the time to really listen. –Justin Gallegos