Ten Thumbs Up For Louise Goffin's "Two Different Movies"
5
By Beth I Rosen
If there’s only one album you buy this year, make sure it’s the one you’ll want to listen to for the rest of your life—Louise Goffin’s newly released “Two Different Movies”. I wish there were an option to rate this album an unequivocally perfect ten. Ten for its ten eclectic tracks that tell a story. Ten for its effortlessly transcendent lyrics. Ten for its music that will leave you alternatively smiling, dancing, pondering, and feeling a range and depth of emotions as only an extraordinary artist can evoke in one album. Ten for a range of tempos. A flawless ten for its magnificent orchestral arrangements. Ten for beautiful love songs and a poignant yet powerful breakup song; ten for a song so prophetic you’ll wonder from where the artist summoned it. Ten for Goffin’s mellifluous vocals that grab you into each track; and, yes, ten impeccable stars for the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter Louise Goffin, whose insightful songwriting surpasses itself with each album she releases.
In times such as this when the world feels amiss, people seek solace, happiness, and inspiration. In June 2020, we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, racial conflict, and an economic depression. We were searching for happiness and a respite from the strife. Music forever orients us to a time and a place. Years from now, we’re going to remember the music that uplifted us and carried us through these rough times. We’re going to recall that just when everything seemed wrong, Goffin, a gifted singer songwriter, released her tenth full-length album, “Two Different Movies”, brimming with awe-inspiring lyrics, melodies, and musical arrangements. Of course, she didn’t know when she wrote these songs that the world would be on a collision course. But perceptive lyrics and stirring music, regardless of when they were composed, strike a chord deep within, allow us to reflect, to smile, to shed a tear perhaps, and ultimately offer us hope for better days ahead.
This album reflects on life, love, and relationships. It reminds us that the most basic things we often take for granted are ultimately most important. The record opens with a catchy tune entitled “Simple Life”. How relevant are these lyrics: “I want a simple life/No decisions to be made/ No future to upgrade/Just you and me/I wanna go outside/Hang out with the birds and the trees”. Isn’t that how we all feel?
The love songs on this record are rich in passion with varying themes and sentiments. Which makes sense given that there is no one size fits all for love and relationships. Listen intently to “Made to Be Good”, one of the most lyrically and musically evocative love songs I’ve ever heard. Co-written with Billy Harvey, this ballad invokes everyone’s dream of love that endures. “Let’s make a good story to tell/I’ll show you the honeymoon/No more goodbyes or sad farewells/The end is not coming soon/ Let’s make a different kind of day/Suspending our doubts and our cares/Love is all we want anyway/To know that somebody’s there”. Pause right there and hang onto those lyrics. If you’re a movie or TV producer or know one looking for the quintessential love song, there it is in all its beautiful simplicity.
Spin “Every Love Song” once and you’ll play it a million times. With its captivating melody and exhilarating message telling someone “all the things I’ve never said before”, this track, another co-write with Billy Harvey, is like drinking a dose of joyful music. Opening with a gospel spirited feeling, “Every Love Song” is a heartfelt, upbeat love song with a very direct message to someone you love but never exactly explained quite how you felt. “These are all the things/I never said before/And I’m telling you now/I’m telling you now/In every love song/Anybody sings/It’s you I’m reaching for/I’m telling you now/I’m telling you now.” I’m telling you now “Every Love Song” is a joyfully gripping song everyone should play for someone they should tell now.
The title track of this album is a poignant yet empowering breakup song. It’s melancholy but not sad. With a soul touching melody and incomparable lyrics, it speaks to a profound recognition. “I’m scared and I’m hopeful/I’m strong and I’m weak/But at least I know I’m driving/Out of all this desolation.” Its chorus speaks eloquently to a reality so many have faced, “I can’t make us/Something we’re not/Rewrite the lines/Reshoot the scene/’Cause I found out/When you walked off/Is that we were watching/Two different movies”. Calling out to a movie producer again—this song describes relationships we’ve tried to mend, but ultimately couldn’t “rewrite the lines or reshoot the scene”. It’s not a despondent song. It’s a commanding drive “out of all this desolation”.
I referred to a “prophetic” song, one after which you listen to it will make you say its name over and again. Yes, I’m speaking of course about “Oh My God”, which will make your jaw drop. Its arrangement by the brilliant Van Dyke Parks is astounding. The confluence of instruments portends a significant phenomenon. Coupled with the lyrics, you find yourself thinking this is stunningly clairvoyantly. “It’s a roller coaster hologram/That spins out for real/I did the best that I knew/Now you take the wheel/Oh yeah I know/When your arms are open wide/I call it home/Though my pleas have been denied/But I keep on coming back/I’ll keep on coming back/Oh my God/Where have you been/It’s sure good to meet you/Something’s coming/And everybody’s counting on you.” The strings soar. This song is astonishingly enthralling.
In the last track, “Safe Place to Land”, Goffin likewise spins melodic turns of phrase into a quietly poetic love song.
One day, when the world returns to some semblance of normalcy, we’re going to continue playing this album daily because our brains and hearts will forever associate it with the joy it brought us when we most needed it.
