Icelandic jazz-pop singer Laufey (pronounced Lay-Vay), has been introducing a new generation to jazz with her relatable lyrics, moody production, and hauntingly beautiful vocals. Her critically acclaimed 2023 record, Betwitched took home Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy’s just last year, marking her breakthrough into the mainstream music machine. Laufey has long been challenging the boundaries of genre, and her newest project is her most explorative yet. With a distinct sound that blends nostalgic jazz influences, with modern pop, Laufey has been capturing hearts of fans and critics alike. She has a 29 date international tour slated to kick off this September. 

Across 14 enchanting tracks, Laufey builds a sonic world that transports listeners to a land of fairytales. The opening track “Clockwork” begins with a chiming clock, and the scene is set: the stroke of midnight, romance in the air, and heartbreak a real possibility. The entire album is rich with imagery straight from a storybook page, laced with the anger of a woman done wrong. Laufey opens up on this project, diving deeper into emotions like betrayal, disappointment, and anger, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. On “Clean Air”, she tells her ex-lover to “Get the f*** out of my atmosphere”, showcasing a new layer of freedom for her as a songwriter, bold and direct, all while carried by a plucky instrumental. 

On A Matter of Time Laufey dips her toes into a more pop infused sound, with tracks like “Tough Luck” and “Hollywood Castle”. But yet, she still doesn’t stray too far from her roots with tracks like “Forget-Me-Not” and “Mr. Eclectic” anchoring her sound in jazz. To create this album, she worked with producers Stephen Stewart, a longtime collaborator, and Aaron Dessner, best known for his work with The National and Taylor Swift. Dessner’s influences are obvious on tracks like “A Cautionary Tale”, where his distinct production style can be easily heard. 

While this new album strays slightly from Bewitched’s moody jazz layers, to a bolder, more pop-oriented sound, Laufey still manages to bridge the gap between the two projects. On “Too Little, Too Late”, Laufey’s identical twin sister, Junia reprises a violin solo from title track “Bewitched”, repurposing it from an achingly beautiful motif of spellbound love, to a gutwrenching tale of love lost due to poor timing. The familiar melody takes on new emotional weight here, with lyrics like “To tell you I should have chased you / I should be the one you’re engaged to”. 

In the final track “Sabotage” Laufey warns that she’s her own worst enemy, and that “It’s a matter of time til you see the dagger”. Implying that she is guilty of sabotaging her own relationships, a raw moment that peels back the curtain to her inner world and vulnerability. On the track, the gentle piano production is ambushed by screeching violins, emulating anxiety. The album ends with a surge of instrumentals meshed with foreboding vocals, and then a hard stop. The fairytale is over, and the storybook is closed. 

Laufey’s musical evolution is on full display on her third record, and it is clear that creative freedom, in both genre and expression, was a central goal of this body of work. In it, she has established herself as more than a heartbroken poet, but a songwriter capable of capturing her most complex emotions. A Matter of Time is a captivating listen front to back, and yes it might make you want to cry at times. 

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