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Review By: Max Sergienko

Valentine’s Day is a tough day for a lot of people. (I myself plan on celebrating it by not leaving my apartment and drinking black coffee alone all day.) Blast of Love, however, the latest release by Berklee guitar professor and New Jersey native Lauren Passarelli, has me reconsidering.

Everything about Blast of Love is refreshingly honest and unpretentious, from Passarelli’s raw, mellow vocal timbre, to the naïveté and young-love aesthetic, to the album’s pitch-perfect release date of February 14^th. Beginning with the first song “Come be Loved,” Passarelli invites us into the music: “Here no walls will keep you out,” she sings. The acoustic, feel-good nature of the tune calls to mind George Harrison’s solo work in the best way. The production itself is very understated, allowing the music to speak for itself, and giving the tunes a warm, lo-fi nostalgia. Other favorite tunes of mine include “Don’t Look Down,” a song about the precarious nature of relationships and the beauty of blind faith, as well as “The Sea Road,” an airy, imagery-heavy ballad driven by Passarelli’s layered vocal harmonies.

Blast of Love is the kind of record you put on on a rainy day with a cup of tea; an artfully crafted acoustic opus that couples or lonely people can equally enjoy.

Blast of Love is available at the Berklee bookstore, CD Baby and iTunes.

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