Beverly Glenn-Copeland Laughter In Summer

Critic's Take

In a quietly majestic return, Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Laughter In Summer finds its best moments in reimagined classics like “Ever New” and the opening “Let Us Dance (Movement One)”, where one-take piano and choir takes make the songs feel human and immediate. The record wears its theme of memory and dementia lightly but insistently, so the best songs on Laughter In Summer become those that marry simple, soulful performance with emotional context. David Coleman’s sympathetic tone highlights “Ever New” as the album’s masterwork, while the two movements of “Let Us Dance” bookend the album with unassuming power. Even weaker moments like “Children's Anthem” and “Harbour” are described as wholesome rather than failure, which keeps the collection coherent and affecting.

Key Points

• The best song is “Ever New” because its one-take piano and choir rendition is called magical and the album's standout.
• The album’s core strengths are tenderness, emotional context around dementia, and intimate reworkings of Glenn-Copeland’s classics.

Themes

Critic's Take

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer reads as a hushed, heartfelt goodbye, and the review makes clear the best songs here are the tenderly reworked “Let Us Dance” and the new title track “Laughter In Summer”. The critic’s voice is intimate and elegiac, noting how piano, choir and spare arrangements let Glenn-Copeland’s time-worn voice carry the weight of memory. Elizabeth’s duets are singled out as stabilising, especially on “Laughter In Summer”, which registers as the record’s emotional centerpiece. Overall, the review frames these tracks as the album’s most affecting moments, where vulnerability and simple arrangements reveal why they stand out as the best tracks on Laughter In Summer.

Key Points

• The title track is best because its duet intimacy and life-affirming goodbye crystallise the album’s emotional core.
• The album’s core strengths are its spare arrangements and Glenn-Copeland’s time-worn, tender voice that render memory and mortality with quiet power.

Themes

Critic's Take

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer is presented as a whispering celebration of memory and love, and the review leans into how its best songs - especially “Harbour (Song for Elizabeth)” and “Children's Anthem” - crystalize that mission. David Harris writes in a tender, intimate voice that treats the record like an insular love letter, noting the one-take Hotel2Tango recordings and Elizabeth taking lead on several tracks. The narrative frames the album as a consciously life-affirming response to dementia news, with “Harbour (Song for Elizabeth)” singled out for Glenn-Copeland's rich voice and “Shenandoah” for its elegiac quality. Overall, the reviewer positions these best tracks as small, potent reliquaries of time and devotion rather than showy statements.

Key Points

• “Harbour (Song for Elizabeth)” is the album's emotional centerpiece, highlighted for its intimacy and Glenn-Copeland's enduring voice.
• The album's core strength is its quiet, one-take intimacy that frames themes of memory, time, and love as life-affirming.

Themes

Critic's Take

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter in Summer opens with an almost transportive rush, and the review makes clear that the best tracks are up front - “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” and “Ever New” are described as "simply stunning" for good reason. The title track “Laughter In Summer” is singled out as even more powerful, a duet that celebrates enduring love while mourning its future loss. The reviewer keeps a measured, affectionate tone throughout, praising the album's sparse, warm beauty while noting the remainder of the record feels like a gradual comedown from that monumental start. Overall, the criticism is gentle and admiring, recommending these standout songs as the core best tracks on Laughter in Summer.

Key Points

• The opener and title track are the best songs because their choir, tender vocals and sparse piano create a majestic, profoundly moving start.
• The album's core strengths are its sparse, warm arrangements, sincere simplicity, and themes of memory and enduring love.

Themes

Critic's Take

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer feels like a gathering, and the best songs - notably “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” and “Harbour - At Hotel2Tango” - foreground that communal warmth. Jason Anderson writes with patient clarity about voices knitting old compositions into fresh arrangements, and he lingers especially on how the choir reshapes “Ever New - At Hotel2Tango” and “Shenandoah”. The record's tender focus on memory and care makes those tracks stand out as the best songs on Laughter In Summer, acting as touchstones for the album's themes of gratitude and support. Overall the singing, the single-take immediacy, and Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland's contributions make these moments the album's emotional centers.

Key Points

• The best song is driven by communal singing and emotional immediacy, with “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” exemplifying that power.
• The album's core strengths are its choir-driven arrangements, Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland’s vocal contributions, and the intimate, single-take recording approach.

Themes

Critic's Take

Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer feels like a record made in the teeth of time, intimate and immediate, where songs become communal touchstones. Creely frames the set as hymns and nursery rhymes, and highlights “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)” and “Harbour” as moments of devastating emotional clarity. The review names “Middle Island Lament” among the listens, but it is the duetting on “Harbour” and the loosened joy of “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)” that mark the best tracks on Laughter In Summer.

Key Points

• The best song is “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)” because its loose, communal joy and 'gorgeous' delivery capture the album's emotional core.
• The album's core strengths are intimate, hymn-like simplicity and a moving duet-led immediacy that refracts live history into present tenderness.

Themes