| Through its emotional ups and downs, its sweeping, hooky and earnest
piano-pop, Indiana finds the 24-year-old, Indiana based singer working
through romantic tests, and even finds him candidly discussing the
status of his young career. "There are songs about relationships,
girls, faith, friends, family, and there are even some songs about the
music industry," he says. "It's a debut album. Nobody knows how the
album's gonna go, I don't know how my career is gonna go, so some songs
are about that--me trying to venture out into the big world, and make
it work." It's also an album about taking stock of all that's good and
bad in your life. McLaughlin dubbed the album Indiana during a point
when he was in California and away from his Midwestern hometown for the
first time in his life for an extended period of time--at a time when
he was better able to recognize what's beautiful and easily taken for
granted in small town America. In the song's sly stanzas, the title
track pays homage to his home state, via a string-laden piano ballad.
But the songs on Indiana deal in emotions as prevalent in Timbuktu as
they are in the heartland: "After all, we're only human," McLaughlin
sings in the chorus of the ultra-catchy jewel "Human." |
