Rosie Thomas’ album Only With Laughter Can We Win intrigued me when I saw it on Sub Pop’s website – largely because I had heard Thomas’ name before as a comedienne, not a musician and partly because I have enjoyed a fair number of Sub Pop’s previous releases. Due to the title of this release and the little I know about Rosie’s other career I was expecting more of a comedy album, at least in the sense that her lyrics would be funny or that her “music” would be more of a novelty act than anything.

I was surprised, to find that while Rosie Thomas may do stand-up comedy she is also quite a musician. Only With Laughter Can We Win presents a woman than seems much more akin to Joni Mitchell than to any comedienne and truthfully – while she may have a funny alter-ego, Rosie is dead serious as a musician.

Rosie’s music does sound more than a little like Joni Mitchell on this album and the title itself is a nod to Mitchell, although I can’t attest to whether this was true on her first release, When We Were Small. Thomas is largely the singer-songwriter on this release, and although she does play some guitar and piano she is backed up by Eric Fisher (guitar), Brian Thomas (piano), and Andy Myers (drums). She also makes her sophomore effort a family affair by having her mother, father, sister and brothers contribute vocals to some of the tracks.

The music on Only With Laughter Can We Win leaves me a bit torn about just who will enjoy this album, because I have some serious misgivings about it. She has a perfectly lovely voice – it’s soft and pretty, but generally lacks any sort of uniqueness that I’m often drawn to by singers. There’s also the fact that most of the songs are rather sparse and a fair number of them get relegated to background music whenever I listen to this album. While I do enjoy delicate tunes such as these from time to time, I tend to prefer them with a little more substance and power.

The songs that stand out to me the most include “All My Life,” which like much of the album was recorded in a church in Thomas’ hometown of Detroit and has a beautiful cavernous quality that it would be lacking if recorded elsewhere. “I Play Music” is a straightforward country-style ode to why Rosie makes music with lyrics like “when I sing I lose myself, there’s nothing more I’d rather do.” I also enjoy “You and Me” because this track finds Rosie adding a bit more power to her vocals and the emotion in her voice comes through to the forefront.

The rest of the tracks on Only With Laughter Can We Win are definitely soul-bearing on Rosie’s part, even when the lyrics are undemanding - as seems to be her general style. However, I’m just not drawn to most of the other pieces here and I think it is completely due to the spare soundscape - just a little piano here, a bit of strumming there, and nothing to really sink my teeth into musically speaking. There’s also Rosie’s liberal peppering of her lyrics with Christian sentiments that personally turn me off, though I’m well aware that there are plenty of music fans who will feel an affinity for this.

Perhaps, Rosie Thomas would simply appeal to those with more of an interest in her delicate indie-pop style. I definitely appreciate her voice and imagine fans of low-key singer-songwriters would enjoy this much more than I, especially those who don't mind a dose of the singer's religion with their music. I don’t recommend this one, but that is only based on personal preference and what I generally rave about to others. I’m confident that Rosie Thomas has an audience, deservedly so, who would gladly recommend this one to friends.

Track Listing:
Let Myself Fall
I Play Music
Red Rover
Sell All My Things
Crazy
One More Day
All My Life
You and Me
Tell Me How
Gradually
Dialogue

Recommended: No