by Danielle Holian
If You Wait is the debut album from London Grammar. Their music is reverb-heavy pop, with classy pop hooks filled with room to sizzle into the industry. They’re alternative yet polite. It’s a consistent emotional record with powerful sounds, yet feels soft and gentle.
‘Hey Now’, a slow-building track, introduces the listener to the record. With the opening lines: “Hey now / Letters burning by my bed for you” shows her call for love. This tune perfectly sums up the trio’s sound. Hannah Reid’s vocals are emotionally-driven, she reflects on ‘wasting my young years’. Each track is driven by her voice, with the silent regret making it swayable fitting flawlessly with Dan Rothman and Dot Major’s guitar, synth, and piano instrumentation. The record feels like the listener is in a daze, yet saturated in the reality of being isolated and lost. It’s tragic, yet beautiful. On ‘Shyer’ Reid shows her confusion and exhaustion, compared to other songs like ‘Strong’ where she shows her addiction with fallouts and heartache.
The best part of the 11-track album is mostly based around unblemished dance and relief-like tunes. The brilliantly produced record demonstrates their talents. Although there is room for the trio to improve in future, they already know this as Reid sings on ‘Wasting My Young Years’: “I’ve heard it takes some time to get it right.” If You Wait ends rather hopeful as Reid sings: “If you wait.”
The ModernRetro Magazine 