Gianna Lauren

On Personhood’s six tracks have the density of a much longer album. Gianna Lauren’s beautifully captured second album, recorded over five days last June in a reconverted horse stable, is understated indie-rock existing between the meticulous and spontaneous. On “Threads,” Lauren sings “Not much foundation/flimsy construction” before concluding the song with a phrase that could be the album speaking for itself: “I’ve got a lot of threads.” On “Anchor Down” Lauren sings over a guitar lick that’s the politest takeover of the brain’s dopamine reserves in recent memory. When the songs spread out from their cozy 4/4 quarters into sophisticated instrumental passages, it feels like a touring four-piece hitting their stride. Lauren and her band channel the sort of intense thoughtfulness distilling entire emotional weather systems into a choice phrase or melody.