The Mynabirds – Lovers Know

After finishing her role as keyboardist on The Postal Service’s reunion tour, Laura Burhenn travelled the world to find herself again. Recorded over the course of a year in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree and Auckland, The Mynabirds’ third album shows Burhenn taking the itinerant life to heart, offering up a shimmering, open-hearted indie pop record for those wandering in the name of love.

Her music is as spirited as ever, this time combining her familiar piano, chiming guitars and choral harmonies with cascading synths and RnB inflected electronic percussion in wounded tracks like Believer. Burhenn’s travels have clearly influenced her lyrical conceits, as she mines natural elements such as wildfires, storms and panning for gold; Semantics’ fluid relationship is compared with Siberian ice and London fog before the song ends triumphantly in Mariah Carey territory. Although her analogies don't always convince, Burhenn’s soulful voice and emotional honesty can’t help but win out.