Somewhere Else (Lydia Loveless album)
| Somewhere Else | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Lydia Loveless | ||||
| Released | February 18, 2014 | |||
| Recorded | Columbus, Ohio | |||
| Genre |
Singer-songwriter Pop/Rock Alternative country Americana | |||
| Length | 42:16 | |||
| Label | Bloodshot Records | |||
| Producer |
Lydia Loveless Joe Viers | |||
| Lydia Loveless chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 83/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| AV Club | B+[3] |
| Exclaim! | [4] |
| L.A. Times |  [5] |
| Paste | [6] |
| Pitchfork | [7] |
| PopMatters | [8] |
| SPIN | [9] |
Somewhere Else is the third studio album by American musician Lydia Loveless. It was released on February 18, 2014 by Bloodshot Records.
Songwriting
Loveless scrapped an entire records' worth of songs before beginning this record.[10]
While citing the progress Loveless has made as a songwriter, Paste describes the record as "an album of blood and guts and emotions—anger and yearning and lust—that are so honest and immediate that they beg to be shared. The strength in Loveless’ vocals is how deftly she moves between tough and vulnerable, the emotions in both realms sincere and familiar."[6]
Mark Deming from AllMusic describes Loveless' "dazzling" growth, saying she "has developed an uncanny ability to talk about matters of the heart and soul with a lyrical voice that's graceful, keenly observed, and brutally honest."[2] Making the record as a 23 year old, he characterizes Loveless as being "still young enough to be fearless, but she's matured enough as an artist to make something truly special out of her stories, and Somewhere Else confirms" she's strikingly accomplished.[2]
Background and inspiration
"Really Wanna See You" was written at Loveless' husband's grandmother's house "in the middle of the night while thinking about Robyn." Loveless said she envisioned the track as a production heavy pop song, but doesn't know about electronica programming so used the sound of layered guitars to convey this.[11]
People have asked her whether the reference to the Magic 8 Ball was a metaphor for drugs, which it definitely isn’t. “It’s actually literally about when I go to my parent’s house and go into my room and find my Magic 8 ball and ask like, ‘Will I ever do this right?’” she said.
"Wine Lips" has a line, "Tell your mother my French has finally improved." Loveless said that when she was young she "dated a really rich dude from New York for a while, and I’d lied to his mom and said, 'Oh yeah, I speak French.' Then she got on the phone with me once and started talking in French, and my cover was totally blown."[12]
On the song, "Chris Isaak," Loveless said the song was written to poke fun at a past boyfriend: "there was this kind of douche-baggy dude I dated who really liked Chris Isaak, and I really like Chris Isaak, and he would always play Chris Isaak songs on his guitar and sing them to me. So I wanted to write one last...song to him."[12]
Loveless said “Hurts So Bad” was inspired from reading a book about the tempestuous relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.[10]
The song "Head" was co-written with Todd May, who plays guitar in Loveless' band. Loveless said the song took a long time to write, and went through multiple versions, including "a demo tape that sounds super country that we did in [May's] basement. So it took a long time, but I still wanted to do it. I didn’t want to make it funny though, I wanted it to be kind of depressing."[12]
"Verlaine Shot Rimbaud" was featured on a "Special Valentine's Day Edition" of NPR's Morning Edition Heavy Rotation series: In "Verlaine Shot Rimbaud," Loveless "equates a relationship to the tempestuous affair between the 19th-century French poets, in which Paul Verlaine shot and wounded Arthur Rimbaud in a fit of jealous rage."[13] Verlaine actually shot Rimbaud in the wrist in real life[14] but the wounds were only superficial.[15] The song was also featured as a Rolling Stone "Daily Download."[16]
Loveless said she "found a commonality with Verlaine, who she says had an influence on 80% of the album and whose poem 'Aspiration' also found its way into the album's liner notes. 'I just sort of related to that need to sort of be throwing pots and pans and then go write a poem.'"[11]
The title track, "Somewhere Else," was written while at SXSW. The Fleetwood Mac-influenced song describes a constant wanderlust: "I just have a lot of discontent and restlessness. So it’s mostly about that."[11] On the song: "I’m really proud of the title track, Somewhere Else. It sort of came to me when I was half asleep and I knew I wanted to call the album that, but I knew the song had to be really good. When we finally got into the studio with it I was amazed with how we handled it–I think it sounds really dreamy, especially the harmonies. I’m very proud of it."[17]
On the album's closing track, Kirsty MacColl’s “They Don't Know”: "It’s a very simple, almost perfect pop song. The lyrics are incredibly clever, but not self-aware in their cleverness, if that makes sense. I just really admire it. We had booked two whole days in the studio and got everything done really fast. We had a lot of extra time, so I said, 'Let’s record that Kirsty MacColl song.' I guess that’s not a very good reason. No one had played it but me, but they learned it in half an hour. I feel like the album goes down, down, down for so long, so I thought it should end on a bit of a high note. You get really depressed and start drinking, and then you finish it off with a happy little pop song. It’s gonna be OK."[10]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Lydia Loveless.
| Somewhere Else (CD, LP) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Really Want To See You" | 3:56 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Wine Lips" | 3:42 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Chris Isaak" | 4:33 | ||||||||
| 4. | "To Love Somebody" | 4:38 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Hurts So Bad" | 3:33 | ||||||||
| 6. | "Head" | 4:21 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Verlaine Shot Rimbaud" | 4:38 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Somewhere Else" | 5:24 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Everything's Gone" | 4:42 | ||||||||
| 10. | "They Don't Know" (Kirsty MacColl) | 2:50 | ||||||||
Bonus tracks
- "Falling Out of Love With You" - iTunes bonus track
- "Come Over" - vinyl bonus track, available via download code with purchase of vinyl
- "Mile High"/"Blind" - 7" Record Store Day bonus tracks: Limited edition on lime green (Kesha's favorite color) vinyl. B-side is exclusive Ke$ha cover[18][19] The tracks will be released in digital album format May 27, 2014.[20]
- On the choice to record "Blind," Loveless said: "I chose this song because it resonated with me personally, but also because I could hear a really simple pop song beneath all the overproduced bullshit. I often screw around with pop songs at home, and that one just ended up sticking with me as something I wanted to do. Then when I brought it to the band, they took it to a completely new level sonically. It just had that moody, remorseful sound I think the song needs. I love Kesha because she seems like a really rad chick and great songwriter that maybe got pushed around by too many old white men. I want to see her do something really great soon, and I love her albums. I've seen her twice live, and last time my friend and I got her logo tattooed on us beforehand. It was actually the day I took all the photos for my new album 'Somewhere Else.'"[21]
There’s a quote from Verlaine’s 'Aspiration' on the inside cover of Somewhere Else.[22]
Album artwork
The album artwork was created by a Columbus, Ohio-based company called Blackletter.
Personnel
The band that recorded this record is the band Loveless toured with extensively. Lamb is Loveless' husband. The record was recorded in two days and was produced by Loveless and engineer Joe Viers at Sonic Lounge in Columbus, Ohio.[23]
Touring band
- Lydia Loveless - vocals, guitar
- Todd May - guitar, vocals
- Ben Lamb - upright bass
- Nick German - drums
Additional players
- Jay Gasper - steel guitar
- Nate Holman - keyboards
Reception
The album had an overwhelmingly good reception[1] and entered Billboard's Heatseekers chart (new entries to Billboard charts, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan) the first week of its release at position number 7.[24]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Somewhere Else - Lydia Loveless". Metacritic. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Deming, Mark. "Somewhere Else - Lydia Loveless". AllMusic. AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Grant, Sarah (February 18, 2014). "Hopelessness drives country singer Lydia Loveless to new musical heights". AV Club. Onion Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Gzowski, Mick (February 14, 2014). "Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else". Exclaim!. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Martens, Todd (February 18, 2014). "Album review: Lydia Loveless' brazen 'Somewhere Else'". L.A. Times. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Swedlund, Eric (February 18, 2014). "Lydia Loveless: Somewhere Else". Paste. Paste Media Group. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Deusner, Stephen M. (February 17, 2014). "Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Recker, Scott (February 17, 2014). "Lydia Loveless: Somewhere Else". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Harris, Keith. "Serenity Never: Lydia Loveless Brings a Gritty, Witchy Arsonist's Zeal to 'Somewhere Else'". SPIN. Spin Music, a division of SpinMedia. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Deusner, Stephen M. (February 13, 2014). "Lydia Loveless Starts Over on Somewhere Else". CMT Edge. Country Music Television, Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
I started thinking that I’d better write a real country album. I was writing songs that I really hated and was trying to force some kind of country sound. I basically scrapped everything.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Carlin, Shannon (February 19, 2014). "Interview: Lydia Loveless Strikes Fear in the Hearts of Her Exes on ‘Somewhere Else’". Radio.com. CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Davidson, Eric (February 13, 2014). "Q&A: Lydia Loveless". CMJ. CMJ Holdings Corp. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Kot, Greg (Sound Opinions) (February 13, 2014). "Heavy Rotation: 10 Love Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
Heavy Rotation is a monthly sampler of public radio personalities' favorite songs.
- ↑ Hermes, Will (February 9, 2014). "First Listen: Lydia Loveless, 'Somewhere Else'". NPR First Listen. NPR. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Lewis, Stormy (February 18, 2014). "Album Review: Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else". Roughstock. Cheri Media Group. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ "'Verlaine Shot Rimbaud' by Lydia Loveless - Free MP3". Rolling Stone. February 5, 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
- ↑ Schlansky, Evan (March 10, 2014). "Lydia Loveless". American Songwriter. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ↑ Hughes, Hilary (March 17, 2014). "The Lawless Sound of Lydia Loveless". Elle. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ↑ "Lydia Loveless: Mile High/[http://www.spin.com/articles/lydia-loveless-kesha-blind-cover/ Blind]". Record Store Day. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
- ↑ Sacher, Andrew (May 14, 2014). "Lydia Loveless giving RSD single "Mile High" a wider release (stream it +++ updated tour dates)". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ↑ Lobenfeld, Claire (April 3, 2014). "Lydia Loveless Gives Kesha's 'Blind' An Alt-Country Makeover". SPIN. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ↑ Clark, Jeff (March 2014). "Lydia Loveless: Don't Tell Her to Turn it Down, 'Cuz it Ain't Loud Enough!". Stomp and Stammer. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ Rich Mahan (2014). "Lydia Loveless - Living on the Bleeding Edge". The Direct Buzz. AirPlay Direct. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
- ↑ "Heatseekers Albums". Billboard's. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
Peak position: 7; Last week's position: -; Weeks on chart: 1