Laura Brino Creates Space In the Middle of the “Insanity”
Annapolis-based songwriter Laura Brino has released a deluxe edition of her 2024 album Cactus Moon. Coinciding with the one year anniversary of the original album’s release, Cactus Moon Deluxe includes six previously unreleased original songs and two live tracks. One of these new songs is “Insanity,” a beautiful, introspective ballad about aging, identity and finding balance amidst the pressure of life’s “Insanity.”
The song begins with what sounds like an e-bowed electric guitar, joined by a rich synth softly doubled in the opposite ear by pedal steel guitar (played by stellar omni-instrumentalist Ahren Buchheister, who also produced, engineered, and mixed the album). Crisp hi-hat subdivisions of the song’s mellow groove underscore the feelings of anxiousness and uncertainty in the lyrics while allowing the synth and pedal steel to create a dreamy, reverb-laden stereo soundscape. Brino’s lead and harmony vocals are masterful throughout - impassioned, vulnerable, and shining with a raw, fragile, crystalline edge.
“Insanity” is set in the middle of life, an age where one can still vividly remember the now-missing feelings of being young and hardly has time to contemplate them due to the pressures of caring for children who are currently young. Verse one begins with the line “take the kids out for a drive, I just need some time.” There’s no running from household responsibilities, as the narrator assures her partner “Got the clothes, I’ll fold them nice, I’ll do everything right” but what she needs most is time to be alone with her thoughts - alone with herself. She continues, “I’m looking in the mirror but all I see is this blurry and distorted version of me.” Next comes the chorus:
I look to you, you seem like you know what you’re doing
But you don’t, you’re just an older version of me
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing
I’m just trying to keep my mind off this insanity
Brino never gets specific about “this insanity.” The lyrics hint that it might just be mounting pressure of family life, getting older, or a growing disconnected feeling towards one’s younger self. One might also consider the general state of the world here in the mid-2020s as a possible factor. But “Insanity” is not a song to complain, nor does it prescribe remedies or cures for what’s being felt. Rather, this song is about acknowledging the feelings with candor, creating space, and moving towards internal connection with the self.
The bridge articulates an internal justification for not creating that space, beginning with the line “don’t take so much time, I swear you’ll be fine, they’re only little ones” then replacing the first part of the lyrics to “don’t take any time..” The restrained bridge builds with a quiet intensity as the pedal steel shines behind Brino’s vibrant vocals. The chorus immediately after the bridge floats in rhythmic suspense as the bass and snare pause, leaving room for the narrator’s thoughts in two-part harmony before the rhythm returns and the pressures of life resume. A striking conclusion to a striking song.
Cactus Moon Deluxe was released on July 4th, 2025.