Alchemy emphasizes Elina Laivera’s dominant message — that tribulation is the beginning of redemption. In an emphatically unadorned minor-key R&B setting, her debut solo album supplies simple drum thumps, slow guitar arpeggios and subtly sad keyboards, and the occasionally subdued vocal responses.
Nothing distracts from Elina’s voice — bluesy and determined, proud and tearful, utterly exposed and fully human — as she insists on the trials of going through a devastating breakup and moving on from the emotional roller coaster. This is seen on the opening track “Head Above Water” in which Elina strives do deal with her past, saying, “…Cause I swear I’m gonna be/ So much better when/ I’m done with this/ Heaven knows/ I try to keep my head above water.”
Through the album Elina sings about hard-won self-esteem. On the self-titled track, she sings “I walked this road all alone/ Handed you my heart not afraid of being hurt…” and as you listen further you get to see a recurring subject: the uncertainty of long-term love, weighing fleeting temptations against the satisfactions of staying together in a relationship.
But Elina also admits to making her own ‘mistakes’ not realizing that all of it took place in front of her. On “Exit Theme” she sings “You had me fooled with those messages to your exes…” but she ultimately realizes she won’t be playing those games anymore. She strives to be inspirational and asserting with songs like “Over Your Head” and “Hater” and she does it over electrified beats with whole melodic verses.
Since most of the songs are easily memorable and display so much range, the arrangements are often supremely clever, but they’re built for adequate voices, not commanding ones. Elina manages to find this balance, since most of the time this kind of music tends to treat vocals as one more neatly placed sound effect, but she straps herself into the contemporary R&B machine, then grapples her way out. By the end — with actual piano, strings and padded drums Alchemy is a great album that highlights stories about relationship tensions.
Listen on Apple Music
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