A Matter Of Time by Laufey

Laufey A Matter Of Time

82
ChoruScore
8 reviews
Aug 22, 2025
Release Date
Vingolf Recordings
Label

Laufey's A Matter Of Time reframes her retro-modern aesthetic into a nimble, often cinematic suite that balances lush orchestration with candid emotional grit. Critics agree the record answers the question of whether A Matter Of Time is good by delivering tightly written songs and memorable moments, earning an 81.5/100 consensus score across 8 professional reviews. The opening “Clockwork” and the tender “Snow White” emerge repeatedly as entry points, while “Silver Lining”, “Tough Luck” and the album-closing “Sabotage” supply the dramatic range that reviewers praised.

Across reviews, professional critics highlight recurring themes of time, heritage and identity, and a fairytale-inflected lyricism tempered by modern self-awareness. Many reviewers note orchestral and jazz influences - from Great American Songbook gestures to baroque-pop flourishes - that give songs like “Snow White” and “Silver Lining” both vintage glamour and contemporary irony. Critics consistently praise vocal intimacy and narrative detail: “Snow White” is read as a surgical take on beauty standards and homesickness, while “Clockwork” and “Sabotage” function as bookends that trace emotional escalation and self-sabotage.

Voices are mostly admiring but measured; some reviews celebrate the record as a confident artistic evolution with arena-ready hooks and sharp comic payoff, while others register that its grand arrangements occasionally verge on pastiche. Taken together, the critical consensus suggests A Matter Of Time stands as a sophisticated, emotionally precise collection that will answer searches for the best songs on A Matter Of Time with a clear shortlist and confirm Laufey's continuing growth as a songwriter and arranger.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Laufey (overall reference)

1 mention

"‘A Matter Of Time’ cements Laufey as a generational talent"
Clash Music
2

Snow White

8 mentions

"where beauty standards are dissected through this fairytale icon"
The Skinny
3

Clockwork

8 mentions

"The opening chimes of Clockwork signal our return to Laufey Land"
The Skinny
‘A Matter Of Time’ cements Laufey as a generational talent
C
Clash Music
about "Laufey (overall reference)"
Read full review
1 mention
85% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Clockwork

8 mentions
100
02:30
2

Lover Girl

7 mentions
89
02:44
3

Snow White

8 mentions
100
03:13
4

Castle in Hollywood

5 mentions
66
02:33
5

Carousel

6 mentions
87
03:19
6

Silver Lining

6 mentions
100
03:17
7

Too Little, Too Late

4 mentions
77
03:53
8

Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude)

4 mentions
15
03:39
9

Forget-Me-Not

6 mentions
90
04:06
10

Tough Luck

7 mentions
100
03:12
11

A Cautionary Tale

6 mentions
100
04:16
12

Mr. Eclectic

6 mentions
90
02:35
13

Clean Air

5 mentions
41
02:35
14

Sabotage

6 mentions
96
03:34

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 9 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Laufey’s A Matter Of Time keeps the swoon-worthy orchestral sheen of her earlier work while letting darker cracks show, and the best songs - notably “Mr. Eclectic” and “Sabotage” - make that tension feel thrilling rather than hollow. Rhian Daly’s tone is admiring but precise, noting how “Mr. Eclectic” uses bossa nova swing and Clairo backing vocals to elegantly eviscerate would-be suitors, while the ominous, discordant finale “Sabotage” erupts in frenzied dissonance. The review points to intimate highlights like “Forget-Me-Not” and “Snow White” as emotional anchors, songs that reveal homesickness and pressures on women without sacrificing Laufey’s poise. Overall, these best tracks give clear answers to queries about the best songs on A Matter Of Time by showcasing a newly candid, shadowed side of her songwriting.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Sabotage" because its discordant strings and frenzied dissonance poignantly dismantle the album’s fairytale gloss.
  • The album’s core strengths are lush orchestration married to newfound darkness and candid lyrical vulnerability.

Themes

dismantling fairytale darkness vs beauty insecurity and societal expectation homesickness romantic orchestral jazz-pop

Critic's Take

Laufey refines her signature retro-modern fusion on A Matter of Time, where the best songs - notably “Snow White” and “Silver Lining” - crystallize the album's strengths. The reviewer praises “Snow White” as the record's most tender script, an intimate reckoning of heritage that anchors the set. Meanwhile “Silver Lining” exemplifies Laufey's torchlike poise, its brushed drums and reverb delivering immediate warmth. Together these tracks show why listeners asking 'best songs on A Matter of Time' will find both emotional depth and sophisticated craft here.

Key Points

  • “Snow White” is the album's emotional centerpiece, reckoning with heritage and growth more powerfully than other cuts.
  • A Matter of Time's core strengths are its refined retro-modern fusion, meticulous arrangements, and Laufey's poised vocal economy.

Themes

retro-modern fusion jazz and classical influences heritage and identity romance and its tensions filmic grandeur

Critic's Take

Laufey leans fully into the Great American Songbook idiom on A Matter Of Time, and her best songs - notably “Snow White” and “Silver Lining” - mine that old-fashioned grandeur for fresh emotional and comic payoff. Will Hermes writes with a fondly teasing eye, celebrating how the record dials up the frisson between couture orchestration and Gen-Z candor, so the best tracks read as both pastiche and revelation. The swooning strings of “Snow White” and the sly perfection of “Silver Lining” are singled out as the album’s most powerful and funniest moments respectively, which is why listeners searching for the best tracks on A Matter Of Time should start there.

Key Points

  • “Snow White” is the album’s best song because its sweeping strings and raw self-awareness deliver the record’s most powerful emotional moment.
  • The album’s core strengths are its elegant retro orchestration, witty lyricism, and the frisson between old-school craft and Gen-Z candidness.

Themes

retro revivalism humor and self-awareness orchestral/Cinemascope arrangements gendered shame and critique

Critic's Take

Laufey leans into nostalgia and heartbreak on A Matter Of Time, and the best songs - notably “Clockwork” and “Sabotage” - show that duality most clearly in voice and arrangement. The review’s warm, observant tone praises how her sculptural alto blossoms on “Clockwork” then returns, bruised, on the album-closing “Sabotage”, where strings and choir push the emotion to upheaval. Mid-album turns like “Forget-Me-Not” and “A Cautionary Tale” extend that arc, trading gentle restraint for mounting urgency, which is exactly why listeners searching for the best tracks on A Matter Of Time should start there. Overall, the record balances showmanship and intimacy with a clear throughline about love’s cycles.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Sabotage", is the album’s emotional apex, converting intimacy into orchestral upheaval.
  • The album’s core strengths are Laufey’s sculptural alto and tightly arranged throwback-pop that frame cycles of love and loss.

Themes

romantic longing time and inevitability insecurity and self-reflection nostalgia and throwback pop

Critic's Take

Laufey folds baroque pop into a cautionary fairytale on A Matter of Time, and the review leans hard into why the best tracks - “A Cautionary Tale”, “Snow White” and “Too Little, Too Late” - land. The prose treats “Snow White” as a surgical take on beauty standards, and the opener “Clockwork” and closer “Sabotage” work as bookends that sharpen the record's theme of time and self-sabotage. The reviewer's voice is admiring yet unsentimental, calling out arena-ready hooks in “Tough Luck” while celebrating the intimate sting of “A Cautionary Tale” as the album's centerpiece. This is a clear answer to queries about the best songs on A Matter of Time - the highlights are dramatic, narratively tight, and emotionally acute.

Key Points

  • The best song is 'A Cautionary Tale' because it crystallizes the album's time-and-heartbreak narrative with urgent rhythm and vivid imagery.
  • The album's core strengths are its fairytale-inflected storytelling, thematic cohesion around time and self-sabotage, and a balance of intimate phrasing with big, arena-ready moments.

Themes

time fairytales heartbreak beauty standards sabotage

Critic's Take

Laufey returns on A Matter Of Time with luminous, vintage-tinged songs where the best tracks - “Snow White”, “Silver Lining” and “Clockwork” - reveal her new, more personal voice. The reviewer's tone stays admiring and precise, noting how “Snow White” is stripped-back and vulnerable while “Silver Lining” crystallises what makes the record work. There is playfulness too, heard on “Lover Girl”, and adventurousness in the country-leaning “Clean Air” that underline why these are the best tracks on A Matter Of Time.

Key Points

  • The best song, “Snow White”, is the emotional centerpiece because it is stripped-back and reveals vulnerability.
  • The album's strengths are its genre-blending arrangements, luminous vocals and a more personal, varied songwriting approach.

Themes

genre blending vocal intimacy personal storytelling instrumentation shift

Critic's Take

Laufey arrives more daring on A Matter of Time, and the best songs prove it - “Lover Girl” and “Tough Luck” feel like the album's most immediate wins in craft and emotion. The reviewer’s voice lifts the sentimental “Forget-Me-Not” and aching “Too Little, Too Late” as slow-burning highlights, while breezy opener “Clockwork” and the playful “Mr. Eclectic” tie back to her jazz roots. This record is less a retreat into nostalgia and more a restless reach for pop ambition, making the best tracks stand out by balancing classic jazz sensibility with glossy, modern hooks.

Key Points

  • The best song balances jazz roots and pop ambition, showcasing stronger songwriting and emotional complexity.
  • The album's core strengths are genre blending, emotional depth, and artistic evolution from nostalgia to experimentation.

Themes

genre blending artistic evolution nostalgia vs modernity emotional songwriting

Critic's Take

The best songs on A Matter of Time arrive when Laufey leans into rueful clarity, especially on “Tough Luck” and “Mr. Eclectic”, where she kicks former lovers to the curb with sly satisfaction. Steve Horowitz’s review favors tracks like “Forget-Me-Not” and “Carousel” for their memory-and-fate motifs, and he highlights how orchestral backdrops soften emotional blows. The record trades the earlier era’s gush for a wiser, slightly world-weary singer who still lets her loveliness shine through. In short, for listeners asking "best tracks on A Matter of Time," start with “Tough Luck”, “Mr. Eclectic” and “Forget-Me-Not” for the album's clearest statements of voice and persona.

Key Points

  • The best song is strongest where Laufey flips heartbreak into sly empowerment, exemplified by "Tough Luck".
  • The album's core strengths are its orchestral backdrops, narrative persona, and a wiser, less gushy vocal perspective.

Themes

disillusionment heartbreak growth with time authenticity vs. illusion orchestral jazz arrangements