Hello, and welcome to the first edition of No Skips — a column where I discuss a new album every week that I have deemed as having “no skips.” Many artists produce albums that have a few bops or a high-performing single, but it is rare for the entirety of an album to be perfect. The first album to be covered in the inaugural edition of No Skips is Tommy Lefroy’s 2021 EP “Flight Risk.”
I discovered Tommy Lefroy during my first semester at UConn in the fall of 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic led to my first year of college being online, meaning I missed out on key college experiences, including wandering campus and listening to new music. Nevertheless, I vividly remember strolling around Swan Lake and listening to Tommy Lefroy’s “The Cause” on repeat in the fall of my sophomore year when I finally arrived on campus.
Composed of Wynter Bethel and Tessa Mouzourakis, the soft rock duo is stationed out of London. They released their first single, “Northern Towns,” in February 2021 and had immense success with their next release, “The Cause.” Previously, the duo opened for Samia and had their headline tour, “Le Trashfire,” named after one of the hit tracks on “Flight Risk.” I had the privilege to see them live on that tour in Boston at Cafe 393 at The Red Room and, to my excitement, got to meet them at that show. Most recently, Tommy Lefroy opened for Niall Horan’s European leg of “The Show” tour. Tommy Lefroy was the first band that I truly discovered on my own and one that has been a part of huge shifts in my life.
Let’s bring it back to the point of this column — “Flight Risk” has absolutely no skips. The album dropped on Nov. 17, 2021, at the end of my first semester on campus and perfectly summed up my first experiences at UConn. I met new friends, grew into my new college self, and experienced homesickness — feelings that were all represented in this album.
The album opens with “Flight Risk” — a track that is just shy of a minute long. This song opens with beautiful harmonies and perfectly sums up the feelings I felt when moving across the country for college. The song talks about being the person to leave first, instead of being the person left behind. This truly hit home when I moved away to college and left everything I had known for the first 19 years of my life. However, reflecting on that move three years later, I have no regrets and can say that I am so happy to have found this album to help me process my first year at college. Every time I listen to this album, it still brings me back to my fateful first semester at UConn. Despite being so short, “Flight Risk” is never one to skip.
If this album had a theme or a catchy daylist title on Spotify, keywords would include soft, sad, indie and yearning morning. These themes are seen especially in the next track on the album, “The Cause.” This song was one of my most streamed songs in 2021 and was put on my “Fall in New England” playlist that I crafted for long walks around campus admiring fall foliage and the changing seasons. It’s the ultimate no-skip — so much so that I played it on a loop for hours straight when I first heard it.
The next few tracks, “Shoot,” “Kneivel” and “Mortals,” maintain the trend of no skips. Each song has a unique sound that highlights the duo’s ability to create strong harmonies and all-consuming lyrics. “Shoot” showcases their ability to tell vibrant stories through their lyrics. Seeing this song performed live emphasized my position that this track is not skippable. The harmonies and the crowd singing along rang throughout the venue and made the song even more powerful. Now whenever I hear this song, I think of that moment and it reinforces the listenability of the track.
“Vampires” focuses on supporting your friends through hard times and being there for them. The song is sadder and slower than some of the others on the album, but the message behind it is very profound. This message alone affirms the fact that this track is unskippable and a great song for anyone to listen to.
The final track on the album, “Trashfire,” resonated when I was missing home and experiencing the seasons for the first time. The song covers themes of struggling through new experiences and how everything will eventually work out. This song hit hard for a baby sophomore who had just moved across the country for college and continues to hit hard as a senior who faces graduation in four weeks.
This album summed up my first semester of college and continues to be one of my favorite albums of all time. There are absolutely no skips on this album, and I wholeheartedly encourage every single person who reads this article to listen to “Flight Risk.” To play on the final track of the album, “Flight Risk” is nowhere near a trashfire.