Pittsburgh-based singer/songwriter Morgan Erina makes autumnal music that gives off that feeling of warm, comfy sadness.
Erina’s latest single, “Are You Happy,” conjures some serious “For Emma” vibes, especially the interaction between acoustic and slide guitar, the former instrument delicate and precise, the latter silvery and glinting as it flows down over the fingerpicked latticework beneath. From the center of a glowing, impossibly rich instrumental that also includes strings and the world’s gentlest tambourine, Erina ponders the difficult end of a relationship. Despite her tearjerking vocal melody, she sounds cautiously optimistic about the future; near the beginning of the song, she acknowledges, “I know I’m better than this/But it still gets me,” before resolving to rediscover her voice and “beautiful mind” and “run through open fields/Follow passion I’ve been lacking for all these years.” “Are You Happy” is a wearily empowered, I’m-not-ok-right-now-but-I-will-be-eventually ballad; after listening to it a few times, my answer to the titular question is a weepy, blubbering “Yes.”
Check out more from Morgan Erina and follow her on social media
Bored In Pittsburgh 