Lomelda, a soft indie band lead by Hannah Read has just released an LP. Last year, 4E was one of my favorite albums. It was a soft spoken album with a very calming vibe. I shared her on cymbal multiple times and recommended it to quite a few people. Well, once again Lomelda may be one of my favorites this year with the new album Thx.
I expected this album to be like 4E, acoustic guitar accompanied by a soft voice. Instead, I got a whole accompaniment. The album opens up with “Interstate Vision,” probably one of my favorites. The song feels very polished, but still has that soft indie vibe they had on 4E. “Interstate Visions” is a song about being on the road (maybe on tour). She is also asking “can you feel me now? Do you know me yet?” So maybe she is falling in love while on the road. One of my favorite lyrics from this song are,”so i’ll sit with you in parking lots acting like I'm not falling for it.” The next track, “Bam Sha Klam,” builds up to this big release of her voice just belting out this textured voice. This song lyrically and technically is so amazing. Read echoes, “it’s going to be slow going” meaning her journey into all of this is going to take time. It makes you reflect inward, this journey is going to take time. I think it’s another beautiful song. As “Bam Sha Klam” closes out, “From Here” opens up. This track is more of the acoustic style Lomelda produced in 4E. There are guitars and drums, but it still has that acoustic vibe. This track is good, but compared to the previous track, it is not as powerful. The title track follows “From Here,” and also has that more acoustic vibe. “Thx” is Read urging us to go on; our lives have so much potential. “Thx” is a shorter track, but Read still showcases her shaggy, texture voice with her layered harmonization. “Out There” follows the title track, and it is based off of a fake story her brother told her. This was one of the singles, so I did some research on it. Read’s brother said he had met Elliott Smith after a show and Smith had taught him how to smoke cigarettes. Hannah Read knew this was a tall tale, and told NPR she spent six years trying to write this song. “Out There" is not about the space between physical locations, but the space between insight and ignorance. Just like the tall tale she believed in, but then lost faith and began to know the truth. "'Out There” is about never knowing. It is a haunting song, and it is definitely polished. The album progresses, and tracks like “Far Out” showcase Read’s vocal range and her ability to show infection. “Nvr” has a really good beat, and i like the simplicity of the song. “Nervous Driver” is another one of my favorites; I feel like it resonates with me. “Sorry if lately I don't want to fight/I keep waiting all night to go out of my mind/If you've got a reason, I'm sure that you're right/It's not bad to be right.” It just speaks to me; I’ve had my fair share of fights. I’ve battled my demons. It’s hard to listen to a song like this and not think of someone, and the battles you’ve had with them. The last verse also hits me, “Or just hold me close before you go/At least hold me close before I go/Don't you know I need a goodbye?/Cause I'm too nervous to drive.” There’s been times I didn’t want to leave someone’s house, not because I didn’t want to go home, but because didn’t know how they would feel when I left, or I didn’t know how I would feel after I left them. This song is really moving, and really speaks to me. It’s a shorter song, but still very impactful. The next track, “Mostly M.E.” is another emotionally jam-packed song. Finally, the last track, “Only World,” is a little longer, and spins a story about two people who thought they were on the same page, but in reality were worlds apart. The song builds up, until Read belts out her vocal range, and the song softly ends, concluding an amazing album. All in all, it is a beautiful album, all 33 minutes are haunting and breathtaking. Thx comes across as a sad sounding album. Not the way Mothers or Julien Baker portray themselves; their lyrics are inherently sad. You can listen along, and automatically feel the sadness sweep over you, but Hannah Read’s vocals will distract you and maybe make you think the song is uplifting. This album is really easy to put on repeat and listen to all day, it is so amazing. I will probably buy it on vinyl even though I am a broke college student. Maybe I’ll sell a kidney. If you don’t believe me, Stereogum said Lomelda is a band to watch. If you don’t believe me or Stereogum, listen to it yourself. Rating- 8/10 Fav tracks- every track that has a long paragraph least - “Nvr” *Side note, sorry if this review is repetitive and maybe doesn’t make sense; I am a forensic science major that has 10+ hours of homework everyday and I wrote this to distract myself.
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