Rosie’s second album is a natural progression from her excellent debut ‘When We Were Small’, like its predecessor it’s restrained, gentle and with an intimate and natural feel. On both discs she manages to successfully write personal songs focusing on relationships, family and herself without ever coming across as self-indulgent or esoteric. In reality the opposite is true as the album is inviting and easy to listen to, and this is mainly due to the overall sound being strikingly simple while still remaining lush and warm – acoustic guitars dominate, and the atmosphere is provided by violin, cello, piano, glockenspiel and gentle electric guitar. The simple, uncluttered arrangements suit her voice perfectly, she has a gentle, sweet singing style which is very easy on the ears, and her voice is double tracked to great effect on some songs such as the excellent ‘Sell All My Things’.
‘I Play Music’ is probably the most immediate song on the album, a relatively up-beat track with a strong melody and some excellent guitar work, but the highlight is ‘One More Day’ which has some wonderful piano, violin and cello parts and ends with a wonderfully understated choir, it’s a really well crafted song.
On first listen ‘..Laughter’ is a fairly unassuming disc, it sounds nice but isn’t all that memorable, but subsequent plays reveal the album’s real charm, it’s an elegant, graceful singer/songwriter album with strong lyrics and unfussy performances. It may not be the most dynamic album around, and if you want thrills and spills you should look elsewhere, but those looking for something a little off the beaten track and a little less strident than most singer/songwriter discs will find much to enjoy here.

£13.49