★★★★★

For those who have never listened to Ingrid Michaelson before, now is the perfect time to start. Ingrid shines even brighter than she has in years past with her sixth album, “Lights Out.” If she sounds familiar, it’s because popular television shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “One Tree Hill” and “Pretty Little Liars” feature her music regularly. “The Way I Am” is her most popular and recognizable song to date and is probably easily recognizable to a majority of listeners. Despite this being her sixth album, Ingrid does a remarkable job of bringing new “pop-y,” mainstream sounds and style to her music while also maintaining the singer-songwriter identity that she established in her earlier work.

What’s amazing about Ingrid Michaelson is her use of a looping pedal, which allows her to record her own voice to play on a loop, creating her own harmonies and back-up vocals. She uses this technique throughout the album, and she introduces it to us in the very first song, “Home.” In typical Ingrid fashion, this first song makes a huge impact and gives the listener a taste of what is to come. The lyrics show Ingrid’s true passion for music and how music is her “home”: “This is my home/Where I go when I’ve got nowhere else to go…” “Home” introduces us to “Lights Out” with its immense vocals, paired with the mix of raw instruments and some electronic additions to the background music, making it an all-consuming track that sounds especially breathtaking with headphones.

There are quite a few collaborations on the album, two of which include Trent Dabbs, another singer-songwriter and a member of the band Sugar and the Hi-Lows. These two songs, “Open Hands” and “Ready to Lose,” are the slow, romantic ballads of the album. They feature vocals from both Ingrid and Trent, accompanied by simple piano melodies, with some string instruments featured on “Open Hands.” These songs, ninth and tenth on the album, are a breath of fresh air after the fast-paced, more upbeat first half of “Lights Out.”

While almost all of the songs deal with the subject matter of love, lost love and breakups, these two ballads deliver this same message in a sadder tone. Similarly, “Stick,” which follows “Ready to Lose,” is more fast-paced, but is just as sad lyrically as the two ballads. This song features more unique drumbeats, piano and orchestral sounds, paired with lyrics such as, “I’ve got somebody new/He dances just like you/Makes me wonder how you are…” This is a unique song on the album: it’s more sophisticated lyrically than many of the other songs, and it also has musical elements that are unique from the rest of the album.

The standout song on this album is “Wonderful Unknown,” a collaboration with fellow singer-songwriter and husband, Greg Laswell. This song is the one that will be stuck on repeat for days, with its catchy piano melodies and clever lyrics. The chorus has the best lyric on the entire album: “Here we go/Dancing on our own/Inside this house that we have/Never known/Never known/Here we go/Going in alone/Into the dark and wonderful unknown…” Ingrid’s use of the looping pedal, along with Greg Laswell’s vocals, add to this chorus and give it so much more force than it would have with just one voice singing. “Wonderful Unknown” is an invigorating and hopeful song about the “unknown” and lasting nature of love amidst an album of breakup songs and slower, more melancholy ballads. This is the song on the album where everything comes together perfectly.

Noticeably missing from the album is Ingrid’s staple instrument: the ukulele. This album seems to be the transition into a newer style of music-making for Ingrid, a more pop-centric style rather than some of the off-the-wall songs that featured the ukulele on albums like “Be OK” and “Everybody.” In spite of this, Ingrid doesn’t lose her spunk: songs like “Warpath” and “Handsome Hands” stand out on “Lights Out” as songs that don’t necessarily fit in with the rest. “Warpath” has more elements of rock and roll with the electric guitar rifts and the drum beats, while “Handsome Hands” has a very eerie feeling with more of an electronic sound and high-pitched vocals. With these songs, Ingrid deviates from the theme of the rest of the album, reminding us of her dynamic talent.

Ingrid closes the album with “Everyone is Gonna Love Me Now.” A slower song, it has simple lyrics, but it makes its impact as the finale through the gigantic crescendo in the middle of the piece. The guitar, the background vocals, the drums and the piano energize the song and bring the entire album together to a final conclusion that leaves the listener satisfied.
It is almost impossible for Ingrid Michaelson to disappoint. Though she seems to push traditional Ingrid to the wayside in “Lights Out,” she makes room for exploration in a new pop style that’s fresh to Ingrid fans everywhere. Although it may be her sixth album, she never stops impressing her listeners, and here’s to hoping that she n