Lara Smiles – All for You

At times, you come across an emerging artist with such virtuosity, such mindbogglingly obvious skill, that you just know they will become a huge hit one day. Lara Smiles is on the rise. Having blessed not just London, but various locations throughout the UK, with her prowess, she’s finally released her debut album All for You, a record packed full with such an incredible wide range of genres, tones and moods, that it is guaranteed to see us through the colder autumn and winter months to come.

Having grown up with musical parents and a genuine passion from an early age, the British singer-songwriter incorporates a myriad of different styles, embracing a host of inspiring figures such as The Beatles, Prodigy, Muse and many, many more. However, she’s not just a carbon copy of better musicians out there but synthesises everything into a flavour that is unmistakably Lara Smiles, always bombastic, always entertaining, always eager to please an audience.

Opening number Coincidence is a particularly strong start, with its engaging mix of melodic tunes, crazy guitar solos and a bass line perfectly underlying the driving rock with a vulnerability at the core that touches the heartstrings. With Dictate Peace, a modernisation of funky 60s and 70s sounds, Smiles demonstrates that she is perfectly comfortable composing and performing dissonant chords and more dramatically intoxicating numbers for a more demanding audience.

The title track All for You features an uplifting, poppy beat to a melodic tune carrying on throughout the runtime, which almost invites the listener to dance. True earworm potential, it makes use of easily engaging sounds and interesting variations, demonstrating Smiles’s skills as a songwriter. Save Yourself contains quite a different quality, with electronics and guitar riffs providing a darker and more sombre mood, which breaks out into a form of aggression after a building urgency in the lead-up.

Lara Smiles’s debut album doesn’t disappoint and will provide great joy, passion, anger, peace – in short: a variety of moods to both long-time fans and newcomers alike. Those who already know her will greatly enjoy this melting pot of different genres, and others should seek her out to find a refreshingly original approach to the usual pop-rock one hears everywhere. A smashing release from a promising artist.

Michael Higgs

All for You was released on 7^th September 2018. For further information or to order the album visit Lara Smiles’s website here.

Watch the video for All for You here: