Take her home, country road
When Laura Burhenn sang with D.C. effort Georgie James, the soulful singer could not keep up with the pop rock pace of her musical partner, Q and Not U’s John Davis. But now that she has fled the city for the hills of Oregon, her voice has finally found its place. Throughout her new band, the Mynabirds’, soul-country debut, her voice tends to hover above simple, mid-tempo numbers, though the best moments highlight its new-found nuances. When she sings of enduring obstacles in “We Made a Mountain,” her voice sounds as if it’s tracing every rocky crevice. And when she hollers louder than a pounding piano in “Let the Record Go”—a song that encourages fleeing with a vengeance—Burhenn is showing why she should not turn back anytime soon.