The Lovell sisters Rebecca and Megan can be heard supporting Ringo Starr on his new album of country songs, while at the same time their seventh album hits the shelves, and with some heft and punch, too, on the raw strength of the scuzzy guitar-led opener, “Mockingbird”. As raw-edged guitar ballads with big choruses go, it’s a strong opening account for a duo who have delivered fine albums stirring together a pungent one-pot meal of Southern rock, electric blues and Americana. Their last, 2022’s Blood Harmony, won a 2024 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album (2018’s Venom & Faith was nominated for the same award), but this leans more toward the rock end of the blues spectrum. Rock with poppy, catchy hooks, big choruses, and themes of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, or as Megan comments, “finding yourself, knowing yourself, and separating the truth of who you are from societal expectations”.
Working with co-producer and Rebecca’s husband Tyler Bryant, who also featured on Blood Harmony, their songs are stories, personal narratives that tunnel in towards home truths and reflective realisations on the good steps and missteps that make up a life. “Little Bit” is a more laidback, loose and open piece of self-reflection, while lead single “Bluephoria” is a big-riffed rumination on suffering and joy inspired by the blues of Furry Lewis. Further in, “Easy Love Pt 2” is a blues companion to the raunchier, rockier Pt 1, both celebrations of deeper connection, while further in, “Nowhere Fast” is a strong rocker, if slightly generic for the duo, while “Is God is a Woman” is scuzzier, leaner, more compelling affair with sharp, funny lyrics and a loping, hypnotising riff.
While the weight of riffery and pounding drums can begin to feel ubiquitous after a while, the album closer suggests fruitful new soundscapes for the sisters to raise up, with “Bloom Again” drawing on the harmonising magic of the Everly Brothers for inspiration. It’s an inspiration worth pursuing. They’re briefly in London later this month (28 January) to play and sign and sell merch at Rough Trade East, before a longer tour in the autumn.
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