Release Date: 20 April 2018
Song Count: 10
Duration: 33 minutes, 42 seconds
Rating: 7.1/10
Description:
Song Count: 10
Duration: 33 minutes, 42 seconds
Rating: 7.1/10
Description:
Here we witness the rise of an alternative pop figure from almost exactly eight years ago as of writing: Sarah McLaughlin, known professionally as Bishop Briggs, with her debut album Church of Scars. After kickstarting her musical career in 2015 and having an early single of hers, "River" from January 2016, catch a flaming amount of positive attention in the charts as well as on social media, McLaughlin has been riding off of the initial success of her works since, with this album containing many of her earliest successful singles. But what does this album in particular do to distinguish this British artist from the rest of the pop music scene?
Bringing together a tried and true formula in song structure as well as slick pop music production with subtle aural fingerprints as the key differing factors, the record's music provides a particular flavour to its sound whilst keeping its strong familiarity and baked-in wide appeal. Voluminous beats, reverberated gospel-inspired vocals from Bishop Briggs, and a general sense of power, impact and grandiosity lead to bombastic sounding tracks meant to keep one's blood pumping whilst listening. The aforementioned smash hit "River", which is also packaged into this album, is a prime example of this style taking form, along with the rest of the offerings here - another specific highlight being "The Fire", another one of the most upbeat songs on the album.
Bishop Briggs, though a name that has since slid back into the shadows and out of the direct limelight, still makes music that can at times garner a large audience, and given the foundations set by her debut through Church of Scars, it is not difficult to see why that is. Pop music like this treads on a fine balance of appealing to as many tastes as possible whilst also trying to set its own identity with trademark musical features and stylistic elements, and this record has largely managed to uphold it. Though not every track here is a highly memorable shining speck, the baseline of quality nevertheless remains high, and the few that remarkably stand out elevate the experience significantly. Overall, a rightly placed starting step for the musician in her presence in the scapes of music.