When you adopt the artistic nom de plume Lydia Loveless, your take on matters of the heart is probably going to be skewed to the unsuccessful side of the romantic equation. And from the moment the raucous country-rock opening flourish in Really Wanna See You gives way to rueful musings of a lost lover’s new life, you know that’s just where Lydia Loveless is comfortable.
Loveless sings about emotional matters with the intensity of Stevie Nicks on the back of a cocaine bender, the melodic dexterity of Carole King and the acerbic lyrical tone of Adalita. Wine Lips drips with memories, To Love Somebody is straight from the heart and searching desperately for meaningful attachment, and Hurts So Bad arguably requires little more commentary than its self-explanatory title offers.
Chris Isaak name checks the crooning singer-songwriter with the million dollar quaff in the cause of romantic satisfaction; what Head lacks in substantive happiness it more than makes up for with country-pop edge that’s guaranteed to please. Verlaine Shot Rimbaud dips into tragic literary history for an allegorical slant on failed romance, Somewhere Else takes you to a place where things could be a lot better if the world wasn’t so fucked up and Everything’s Gone is an admission of defeat with the skewed lyrical-pop sensibility of John Lennon.
To close out, there’s They Don’t Know, a cover of the late Kirsty MacColl’s whimsical ode to the dark psychological shadows that lie beneath the facade of resilience. Lydia Loveless might be searching for love in all the wrong places, but she’s finding some good tunes while she’s looking.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Really Wanna See You
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: CAROLE KING, GINA VILLALOBOS, KIRSTY MACOLL
In A Word: Country
