By: Cameron Tyo
August 23rd, 2025
It’s been around two years since the release of Laufey’s last full studio album, which was Bewitched. Over the last two years, Laufey has been busy touring, writing, teasing, and releasing music, all of which has been brought together in her latest junior album, A Matter of Time. Just like songs of the past, Icelandic singer Laufey has brought together a collection of amazing, swoon-like jazz songs, focusing on different elements of life—breakup, apprehension of love, and many things that people who have experienced relationships can relate to. Laufey has intrigued the listeners of Gen Z with the orchestral jazz ballads, and I myself got caught up in her music three years ago when I happened to stumble upon her rendition of “I Wish You Love.” From then on, I became engrossed in the songs she has created since. Unlike the last full album, I could actually feel the anticipation of the album’s release. I had to actually wait to hear what Laufey had kept to herself from the public, and let me say it was a treat…again.
Love and Its Fairy Tale Narrative:
The opening song “Clockwork” whisks you into a world that feels much like a fairytale whose narrative feels as such too, with the first thing you hear being “ding dong ding dong” followed by brush drum beats being repeated as Laufey describes getting out of her comfort zone by dating a friend. It shows her inner romanticism as time progresses with her lover. Throughout Laufey discusses how her feelings for the man are destiny and are wounded together like clockwork. The “ding dong” is the time passing, and since the song has such a fairytale vibe, I’d like to say this whole scenario is similar to Cinderella. In which I mean there is a relation between love and the ticking of a clock. You can automatically hear the jazzy elements from not only the brush drum rhythms throughout the song, but also the piano chords that are sprinkled throughout. I thought it was a good introduction to the whole album.
The next song, “Lover Girl,” is straight-up bossa nova, and oh, how I love the bossa nova type beat. Through the song, Laufey mentions how she is lovestruck. She mentions how it is a “reckless fever,” referring to her quick feelings of infatuation with a man that keeps growing despite the fact that when she was younger, she told herself she’d never get to this point. The point being falling for men suddenly. The handclaps and strings playing in the chorus show this ever-growing and infectious nature Laufey has when thinking about her lover. This song was very reminiscent of “From the Start,” but was an enjoyable listening experience all the same.
After this song, we reach “Snow White,” which is much more sombre than the last two songs, talking about the beauty standards women must reach or what they believe they must reach to make people like them. The title of the song refers to the fairytale in which the main character is told to be “the fairest of them all,” the prettiest. There is a contrast between this scenario and the lyrics, however, as Laufey sings “I don’t think I’m pretty, it’s not up for debate,” which is the complete opposite of how Snow White thinks of herself. The plucking of the guitar strings is mellow and represents the insecurities Laufey must grapple with. These instruments also add to the emotional weight of the song.
“Castle In Hollywood” is the first time we hear more of the aspects of pop that Laufey frequents throughout her music.Throughout the song, Laufey is talking about a relationship that has ended. She reminisces about the time they had together, comparing their life together to living in a castle in Hollywood. There are many lyrics in the song that reveal that Laufey believes that now that the relationship has ended, it can’t bloom again. And yet despite that notion, she keeps the memories fondly close to her and often rethinks about their time together. The next song, aptly named “Carousel,” has Laufey describing how relationships are like a carousel and a circus. She reveals how balancing relationships is a loop of chaos and many times a trick of destiny when the relationships fall apart. The vocals are accompanied by piano and accordion, and when put together, give an old-timey vibe to the song and help reflect the sort of dissonance in Laufey ‘s voice.
“Silver Lining” gives off waltz vibes. The song talks about how one can just be themselves when with their love. At the same time, the song shows how sometimes people can get so caught up in becoming a childlike version of themselves when they’re with the person they love that they lose the value of who they actually are. They lose control of their facade. Lines such as “I fell in love on a whim” show a lack of control. Laufey has developed a love without hesitation for someone, as she has done many times before in previous relationships. The constant strings in the song represent the giddy but hesitant nature being reflected in the song. The next song, “Too Little, Too Late,” has Laufey reminiscing on a love that could have been. Lyrics such as “I should ‘ve been the one engaged to you,” followed by the staccato of the piano, show Laufeys’ inner nervous breakdown she is short of having. This is my least favorite song of the album, but I still like it, and the themes that are being portrayed are done so well.
The Truth, the Hardships of Relationships:
The midway point of the album begins with an interlude, “The Cuckoo Ballet,” which introduces the ding-donging of a clock. Unlike Clockwork, however, the song is more mellow, and the notes heard come up as more dissonant. The whole song seems to play with the idea that one is being pulled out of the fairy tale narrative when it comes to being in a relationship.
“Forget-Me-Not” seems to be an ode to Laufey’s homeland. It compares the lovesick one might feel for a lover to that of homesickness for one’s home country, which can be seen in the constant switch between the English lyrics and the Icelandic in different verses of the song. I love the swelling of the violin swings at the beginning of the lines “Love you forever, don’t let go of me,” which is followed by her saying how she’ll hide in her lover’s memory, showing how she is lovesick nd does not want to let go of her lover. This is followed by the same melody persisting as she switches to the Icelandic language. This is probably one of my favorite songs. This, “Lover Girl,” and one not mentioned yet.
“Tough Luck” is undoubtedly the least jazzy song of the album. At this point in the album, Laufey discusses the immaturity of people in relationships and the discussion that often leads to breakups. The swelling of the instruments shows how Laufey is able to understand the silliness of the relationship’s end and how it’s just better if most breakups do happen. This song is followed by “Cautionary Tale” and contrasts the narrative of Tough Luck, in which it shows the distressing nature one might feel when trying to fix a dying relationship. The harsh drums and guitar strings represent this notion. The urgency of Laufey’s vocals represents the idea that some relationships can’t last, no matter how hard it is to grasp this notion.
“Mr Eclectic” is probably my favorite song on the album. Pretty much all the lyrics describe Laufey talking about a man who would patronize her over the smallest things and the thoughts and feelings she had of those said words. One of the lines, “you’re just a stoner patronizing me,” represents how done Laufey is with the man and his overzealous, haughty nature and his actions that come from that. She also hints in the lyrics things people would say to woo her over, many of those things which are lies and trying to make not only her but other women become interested in them. She describes these men as “posers.” It also gives bossa nova vibes with an instrument that sounds like a xylophone—I don’t actually think that’s the instrument it is but I don’t know what it is and brush drum beats are making a return. My only gripe with the song is that it’s pretty short. Not too short for overall music standards. But one of the shorter songs on this album.
“Clean Air” is the penultimate song of the album and shows how life can become such a breath of fresh air when negative relationships finally cease to be. All the memories, whether good or bad, as the lyrics suggest, can only make someone feel confused, upset, etc, so it’s best if those don’t exist. The final song, “Sabotage,” reveals a cycle of love and loss. The song shows a pessimistic perspective of love and explains its longevity, or in lots of cases, lack thereof. Laufey sings, “it ‘s just a matter of time till you see the dagger,” saying how sudden relationships can end and how badly that might hurt, how it can feel like sabotage. There are callbacks to classical songs like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring that you can briefly hear at the end of the song, which is super harsh to represent how hard being in a relationship can be. Everything is dissonance, and the crashing orchestra represents the sudden collapse of relationships to end the album.
Music, Love, and the Inner Psyche:
Overall, the songs in this album do a good job at representing themes of infatuation, loss, hatred, confusion, and showing the inner turmoil one might have when it comes to being in relationships. The song’s lyrics, instrumentation, and Laufey’s soft-spoken but often loud and boomy jazz voice all help to make these themes stand out to show how, while many people think love is often a fairy tale thing, it is often not. Instead, it can be cruel and messy with people’s emotions in both good and negative ways, but can still cause turmoil. The songs show how one can make all this cease, but how hard it is to do so. All in all, this album was well worth the wait, and I can’t wait for the other things Laufey has in the works. And with that, anyone who likes jazz and hasn’t listened to Laufey before should give this and her other albums a try.
With that I give the album an 8.5/10, Amazing!