Laura Brino returns after a 13-year hiatus with the new album No More Surprises and the single All I Need — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Featuring Americana-roots sensibilities, solid songwriting and traditional instrumentation such as fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and slide guitar, the Maryland folksinger’s 11-track comeback album not only delivers the same breathy vocals and narrative songwriting of albums past, but also a healing sentiment and comfort perfectly suited to these turbulent times.
Since her release of her last solo album How We Survived back in 2009, Brino released Snowglobe in 2012 under the moniker Lily and the Pearl — a project with her husband and fellow musician, Sean Jackson (aka Dracula Jackson). In the years following, she essentially disappeared from the music scene as she settled into her home life and began a family.
No More Surprises — including All I Need, written about her daughters — is a collection of songs that were written over the last 10 years. In early 2018, while pregnant with her second child, Brino began recording the release with local musician Ahren Buchheister. She was set to give birth a few weeks after recording her guitar and main vocals. But following a traumatic birth that nearly took her and her daughter’s life, Brino struggled with PTSD and nearly stopped playing music. The next year, she poured all of her energy into being a mother and a wife while the album sat on the shelf.
Once the pandemic hit, however, she decided to finish the album. Over the next two years in and out of quarantine, Brino reteamed with Buchheister to lay down tracks and work with session players online in order to capture the sound she was looking for. She even recorded background vocals from the car while Buchheister ran cables from the studio to the driver’s seat. The result is an album that marks the end of the way things were — and captures her moving forward into a more certain future, while also healing from the past.
Watch the video for All I Need above, hear No More Surprises below and find Laura Brino at her website, Facebook and Instagram.
