Lori Triplett

The female, piano based, pop singer-songwriter. It’s one of the most overstuffed genres, along with, “white guys with an acoustic guitar being sensitive”, and, “angsty men who are never in the wrong when their women leave them playing pop-punk”. Even so, the newest entry in said crowded place is Lori Triplett, an independent, Nashville-based songwriter whose new album, Safe Place To Land, has made a play to stand out from the crowd. Are her attempts successful? Well, for the most part, yes, they are. While the album isn’t going to break any new ground, there is a lot here to like and is certainly a solid entry.

Take, “I Don’t Feel So Free”, using the backdrop of July 4th celebrations as a contrast to feeling a lack of freedom from a past relationship. It’s an interesting way go about it that makes the song more personal, and thus more engaging. The music is easygoing, matching Triplett’s ambling delivery, evoking a late night walk, watching fireworks and reflecting on the past and how it continues to affect the present. Evocative music appears on other songs, like, “The Verdict”, as well, which is a slow-burning taunt that draws on jazzier influences to create a stylish tell-off, with lines like, “The rumor mill is spinning quickly/Causing dizzy spells that turn me blue”, which give more story to what is going on than simply suspicion, in turn making for a stronger song.

“Drifting”, is somewhat reminiscent of Vienna Teng’s more pensive songs, as it’s a slow, flowing ballad describing a relationship that has fallen apart. The lyrics are simple and make use of the music to get across most of the emotion, which makes for an engaging song that will get in your head as much for the beautiful music as for the hooks. “The End”, makes use of a haunting background vocal to fill in the already sparse music as the lyrics relate not worry about trivial things in a way that avoids being preachy and instead simply talks about a dream where things were stripped down to what really mattered and relates that back to the listener.

The weaknesses of the album are fairly minor. “Safe Place To Land” is a rather plain song, with its mid-tempo pacing and standard lyrics. It’s a pleasant song but easily the low point, particularly with the oddly worded line, “Put my hope in love/Love don’t stick around”, which is a strange thing to say, given that on, “Autumn‘s Song“, Triplett states a desire to wait for love. It’s a case where you can get what the songwriter means, but it could probably have been worded better.

“I Ain’t Gonna Hurt You”, is also a tad on the corny side, partly, well, mostly because the phrase, “ain’t gonna”, is corny in itself, though also because of a few awkwardly worded lines. The overall song isn’t bad since it rides the fence between being about a human/God and a human/human relationship, which actually works in the song’s favor, giving it a bit more appeal and subtlety than most on the topic would be.

In the end, there’s a lot more to like here than there is too complain about, with a lot of pop hooks, strong vocals, and lyrics that are more interested in being personal and relatable than they are in simply preaching at you. Safe Place To Land is a welcome addition to the music world and is well worth the time invested by those willing to seek it out.

Tagged as: Lori Triplett, Safe Place to Land

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