As Mike Birbiglia puts it, CLEVERNESS IS OVERRATED, AND HEART IS UNDERRATED and music is always better when heart prevails over head.

Our hearts sometime just want songs sung by a soothing voice singing us a story.

Laurie Biagini writes and sings such songs and has only been doing so for a little over ten years. During that time she has recorded 4 full albums, from which she played a selection last Wednesday for the start of the 11th annual International Pop Overthrow (Vancouver) hosted by David Bash.

A friendly, positive vibe emanates from Laurie’s music, even when the lyrics get a bit dark. This bittersweet quality is evocative of Southern California circa 1969-1973 when things were not always as they appeared. A golden era of pop music, particularly so from AM radio.

Touching on a Carol King or Carpenters style of writing through a Beach Boys filter, she performs  live while playing piano with backing tracks that fill out her sound. She tells stories in between each song that elaborate on the time, places and people of each song.

There is a vibe to Laurie’s music both familiar and haunting, and strangely alluring – taking you back to a time of golden summer sun and carefree dreams.