Review: Mandy Moore’s ‘Silver Landings’ is a pot of gold
Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 6 months AGO
Mandy Moore, “Silver Landings” (Verve Forecast)
They say seven is a lucky number and it seems that Mandy Moore hit her artistic pot of gold with her seventh studio album “Silver Landings,” her first release in 11 years. Her music, carefully thought out and curated with love, is a triumphant return to her creative self.
Moore’s melodic register is suspended in time to that easy listening genre of the early 2000s when she broke out as a pop star but didn’t make the music she wanted. Her acting career hit a new high four years ago with the debut of the hit series “This Is Us,” earning Moore Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and giving the performer the confidence to make the music she wanted.
The 10-track “Silver Landings” charts her life, her career and her mistakes — from the country-like tender but matter-of-fact “Fifteen,” where she sings about her early struggles with fame, to the perky bop “Easy Target,” where she unveils her determination to start over.
The electric guitar on “When I Wasn’t Watching” gives the song’s lyrics — “Convinced it all would come to me/My favorite version of me disappeared” — an almost self-confrontational dimension. Moore’s voice, as mellow and clear, could belong to a few others on different tracks, but the earnestness and newly found creative stride could only belong to Mandy.
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