This seven-song debut from the Madison-based pianist and singer-songwriter brims with romanticism.
"The Way" isn't just a love ballad. It's a testimony to how falling in love transforms a person. "For a while I can breathe, for a while I can see, you surrounding me," LorieAnna sings.
Not all these songs herald solace and comfort. Fear of missing out on love brings darkness to "Don't Pass Me By." The lyrics are starkly conscious of a lonely void: "I want to feel something. I want to feel something that is real."
Instrumentally, LorieAnna infuses the keyboard with feeling. The gently played chords on "The Way" wrap the song in tenderness. But when the mood turns uneasy on "Don't Pass Me By," her fingers rumble through the deep notes with vivid anxiety.
On "Long Way," LorieAnna puts the "singer" in singer-songwriter. Her voice resonates in harmony across multi-layer tracks recorded by Mike Zirkel at Smart before the studio closed earlier this year.
You can catch LorieAnna perform live every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. at Java Cat on Monona Drive. She's one of the local music scene's hidden gems, and with songs like this, she's destined to gather fans far and wide in the years ahead.