Mundo Musique: Lydia Loveless

On Friday, Ben and I posted some of our favorite tracks off of some recent releases, and making that list, it’s incredible the amount of great music that has been released so far in 2014. One name that keeps coming up when I talk music in 2014 is the name of 23 year old Columbus Ohio based Alt-Country singer Lydia Loveless. Loveless released her third full-length album Somewhere Else on February 18.

Similar to a lot of artists I write about, Loveless’ style blends a few different styles to create a unique feeling. Loveless definitely has a wide range of influences, drawing from classic country singers, punk rockers, and folk musicians. Loveless’ 2011 album, Indestructible Machine starts off with “Bad Way To Go”, a swingin’ punk-inspired folk song that reminds me a bit of Frank Turner. The whole record is a fast paced swingin’ affair,

Her 2014 album Somewhere Else is a bit slower paced than Indestructible Machines, but the album is fantastic from start to finish. From the opener “Really Wanna See You” to the finale “They Don’t Know” Loveless rocks throughout. Loveless’ band which consists of herself on guitar and vocals, guitarist Todd May, bassist Benjamin Lamb, guitarist Jay Gasper and drummer Nick German are incredible, creating a bit of a rebellious country sound with some great guitar solos and incredible pedal steel work. Loveless sings boldly about drinking, drugs, exes, and sex, the song “Head” about, well, it’s not hard to figure that one out. The penultimate track, “Everything’s Gone” is a heartbreaking rare acoustic track, featuring a little bit of pedal steel. Loveless’ music has an urgency to it, it’s like a band I wrote about earlier, The Black Lilles, she’s saying something a lot more important than what a lot of country singers do nowadays, Somewhere Else is a gutsy record and we need more people like that in the country music scene.

Live performance of “Really Wanna See You” off of Somewhere Else: