Stuck waiting for a long-haul flight from Western Australia to London might seem like Hell to some but it has led to the new single by Laura Mitchell, Killing Time, an achingly beautiful track which is equal parts Ray Charles and Adele. Stuck with a melody he couldn’t shake and the lyrics forming whilst he waited, composer, John Young, found he had the song fully written by the time he eventually reached London and then fate led to him finding both a keyboardist and a vocalist who brought his song to life. The result is Killing Time, a track which transcends age and genre and exists in the pantheon of great tracks which feel achingly familiar yet stunningly arresting and fresh.
On first listen, you could easily mistake Laura Mitchell’s Killing Time for a track performed anytime from the 1960s to today, possessing as it does a timeless quality which evokes comparisons to classic artists from the golden ages of song. When the opening line, “I was never the girl for you” popped into songwriter John Young’s head on a long flight from Australia to England, he couldn’t let it go and upon his arrival in the UK, he knew he needed to find the right singer and pianist for the track. The musical cavalry arrived in the form of pianist, David Bennett who nailed the bluesy-jazz feel and singer, Laura Mitchell, who added the achingly powerful and emotional vocal.
