Feb 14, 2023
Web Exclusive
By Michelle Dalarossa
It was on a trip to a little town in New Mexico that Bobbie Lovesong (born Madelyn Strutz) first wrote and recorded the lightweight and lo-fi music that would become her debut album, On the Wind. It was 2020, and with the pandemic lockdown, Lovesong’s stay in the southwest became a months-long stint, inspiring the surreal, psych-pop sounds of On the Wind that were concocted using only a laptop microphone and a couple of instruments.
The influence of New Mexico’s vast desert landscapes on Lovesong’s sonic world-building saturates the 15-track album, from the clop-clopping of accented woodblocks to the dusty warmth of each song. Paired with springy banjos and samples of twittering birds and cawing crows, there’s a strong Americana feel, jaunty and unhurried, to the soundscapes that Lovesong crafts. This atmosphere is made all the more nostalgic by the blanket of film and fuzz beneath each song (think cassette tapes and home demos), but the most sonically and stylistically prominent elements on the album are the woozy synths and wavy effects that leave every song gently warped and dream-like. Like a rippling heat wave, stray notes slide up and astral synths bubble over, lending a psychedelic twist to the ’60s jangle-pop of Lovesong’s gossamer melodies and the reinterpretations of jazz standards that pepper the album.
Lovesong’s music is hushed, technically deft, and often catchy, but with the same instrumental and stylistic palette coloring each track, the songs quickly melt into one another in a drowsy haze. The result is an album that may risk lulling listeners to sleep, but whose soft, quirky sound feels both charmingly familiar and otherworldly. (www.bobbielovesong.bandcamp.com)
Author rating: 6/10
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