Showing her diverse sound and influences, Louise Distras dropped her second record Beauty After Bruises on the 28th of April 2023 via Ministry Of Love Records. With deeply emotional approach and unexpected shifts, Distras takes us on a super enjoyable music journey. Let me tell you more about it.
Louise Distras opened Beauty After Bruises with the floating colorful melodies and sweet groove of Truth in Your Lies. A mellow-sounding tune with an open sound and chilling vibes, powered by Distras‘ soothing vocals and strong energetic groove. Keeping her approachable sound, Louise Distras steers into a more emotional and touching mood on Girl in the Mirror. It has a balanced structure with enjoyable twists and turns, all within a cozy production that brought out Distras‘ vocal beauty and made good use of her chill melodies. Love and Money comes next with an even more emotional sound and a rocking progression. It has pop-ish hooking vibes and a heavy progression led by a powerful bassline and extremely enjoyable drumming, that both pushed its sound forward into an energetic, moving one. Showing her rock n’ roll influences, Distras drops Factory Girl. A pure rocking tune with powerful vocals and some solid organs and guitar melodies that boosted the song and the whole record’s dynamics. Broken Mondays comes next, building on the high dynamics of its predecessor. It has a mellow start that quickly and smoothly progresses into a hard-hitting sound, without compromising the record’s overall open sound and melodies, showing Distras‘ diverse writing and allowing herself some creative freedom that helped the listener stay focused and hooked, and it has some of the record’s coolest guitar work. Right in the middle of Beauty After Bruises comes Hollywood Drug, a perfectly placed track that comes out like an energetic explosion with well-balanced dynamics and a tight structure that I believe will get the crowd jumping around when played live. It has a subtle relentlessness that keeps on pumping energetic beats and catchy singalong vocals that made it definitely my favourite track off Beauty After Bruises. Louise Distras steers back into a more emotional mellow direction on Time Heals Nothing, a melancholic heartfelt tune with warm expressive vocals and detailed acoustic guitars with powerful strumming backed by well layered and arranged orchestrations that defined its progressing flow. Solidifying her alternative influences comes Forever is You, a song from the world of legends such as Alanis Morissette, with powerful melodic flow and catchy structure that brought lots of memories. Reaching Single But Taken, Louise Distras keeps on playing around with dynamics to spice things up and keep the listener hooked on such an enjoyable ride and she definitely succeeded. Single But Taken is another groovy heavy tune with a big energetic sound and a catchy, engaging chorus. It has a multi-layered structure with diverse vocal delivery and strong keys that provide an uplifting layer, adding more interesting elements to Distras‘ writing. Run With Wild Horses hits next with subtle punk influences mixed within its alternative rock bright approach. It has that signature deep bass and the dynamics that can send you off your seat jumping, alongside the ever changing vocals that keeps you excited as you can never tell where she’s going next. Reaching Black Skies, those punk influences gets even stronger with a playful structure that keeps changing and a super groovy melodic bass and guitar driven verse. The catchy heavy chorus was pretty surprising but went on perfectly with the record’s flow as it kept the sound fresh and interesting till the very end. Showing different sides of Louise Distras‘ musicianship. Ending the record on a high note comes Keep on Trying. A heavy banger with big theatrical sound and irresistible flowing energy. It has an interesting enjoyable structure with each and every instrument taking its chance to shine, contributing in a big dynamic picture, and leaving the listener with the record playing on repeat.
Beauty After Bruises is a solid and extremely enjoyable record by Louise Distras. She cleverly managed to keep me hooked throughout the 12 songs, with her well thought and arranged dynamics that created one hell of an interesting record. Will definitely be looking forward to more. Cheers!
