Molly Burch - Please Be Mine

There’s something about Molly Burch that both immediately evokes images of the contemporary Indie/Jazz/Singer/Songwriter world (Norah Jones and the like), and at the same time distinguishes her from the rest of the pack.  Perhaps it’s the intoxicating mix of her ‘old-soul’ voice married with her scrappy live band’s minimalistic approach.  Or maybe it’s the way that while she is a relatively new artist, she immediately conveys a sense of ‘been there, done that’ that is so often betrayed by an artist’s age.

But for whatever the reason, Molly Burch’s debut album Please Be Mine works on every level.  With the majority of the record having been recorded in a single day, one might expect Please Be Mine to have a ‘warts and all’ feel, but the results are impressively polished.  Over the course of the album’s ten tracks, the band sounds 'dialed in', and for her part, (the Austin by way of LA) Burch plays the role of the deeply wounded siren perfectly, delivering her ambiguous prose confidently via her understated vocals.

Within seconds of the sharp, shimmering guitar that kicks off the brooding album opener “Downhearted”, Burch and her band have succeeded in setting a defining tone.  While songs like “Wrong For You” and “Torn to Pieces” toy with an upbeat feel, most of Please Be Mine languishes within itself, and to great effect I might add.  Song’s like the pensive “Loneliest Heart” and the crushingly confessional “I Love You Still” are where Burch and her band shine the brightest, blissfully daydreaming without even the slightest hint of apprehension.

While there isn’t much new sonic ground being broken here (think ‘throwback sound’ in a She & Him sort of way), there’s always still the matter of execution, and Molly Burch delivers impressively.  Please Be Mine is everything you want in a debut album, a collection of songs that both immediately satisfy while also hinting at a greater potential, all the while never overstaying its welcome.