Music Review: Laura Hugo, ‘Where We Go to Grieve’
The beloved Twin Cities singer-songwriter’s debut EP is a showcase of her breathtaking vocals and tender, intricate lyrics about grief and heartbreak.
Laura Hugo’s Where We Go to Grieve EP artwork.
Laura Hugo has been a fixture of the Twin Cities scene for well over a decade now, ever since she made her way from Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, in the Navajo Nation, out to Minnesota back in 2010. So there was a collective murmur of excitement through the music community when her long-awaited debut EP, Where We Go to Grieve, landed at last.
Hugo has a disarming velvet to her voice that drops the listener’s guard from the first note of the opening title track. The smooth precision of her tone and masterful phrasing is simply mesmerizing. Frank Merchlewitz lays a gentle underlying bed of organ that sounds like church. It lends one more assurance that what we are hearing on this song is gospel truth.
One of the hallmarks of Matt Patrick’s production is a knack for achieving tones that surprise and delight and maybe wouldn’t be expected in most recordings. He combines this skill with Kai Brewster’s soulful and understated guitar solo on the track. It is a moment in pure service of Laura Hugo’s songwriting—her exploration of loss and late night regrets. Jillian Rae’s string arrangement swells as Merchlewitz brings us out of the break with a heartrending syncopated skip to the heart of the song:
tried to sell everything that you’ve ever touched
and I burned what that the public thought wasn’t worth much
but I keep all the pictures we took on a computer screen
Throughout this EP, one’s ear is continually drawn back to the seeming ease with which Hugo’s voice delivers every note—an effect achieved by exquisite control over her instrument and her level of care given to every vocal phrase and lyric. It’s what draws the listener into her storytelling and tells us something important is happening here.
There’s a swing to these songs that rocks the listener and paces this journey into the intricacies of longing and heartbreak. Hugo’s voice combines with Merchlewitz’s standout piano and organ work on the track “Tonight” to give the song a “New York State of Mind” quality that ramps to the energy of a spiritual revival. It offers the possibility of redemption.
Laura Hugo gently comes alongside us in all the ways a soul can be jarred, bruised, or twisted in this human existence. Her songwriting is a friend who has experienced it first hand, has been there and back, and will tell you of what lies on the other side. Where We Go to Grieve is a hand to hold in the most vulnerable of moments during the longest nights.
Where We Go to Grieve EP Credits
Recorded at The Library (Minneapolis, MN) by Matt Patrick.
Kai Brewster (guitar, mixing)
Seth Duin (guitar)
Taylor James Donskey (bass)
Frank Merchlewitz (keyboards)
Brett Bjornrud (drums)
Jillian Rae (strings)
Eric Martin (mixing)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doyle Turner. Photo credit: no_aesthetic_stills.
Doyle Turner loves words. Whether it is shaping syllables into songs, poems, early morning journals, handwritten thank yous, lists, or album reviews, he is in a deep and abiding relationship with his college-ruled paper, Uniball Signo 207 .7mm pens, and mostly his keyboard. A good day is spent taking pictures, mailing things, making the words convey the precise meaning, driving, and singing.
