Rating: NNN
Louise Burns is someone I believe in. Her 2011 debut, Mellow Drama, hooked us with its simple-on-the-surface, deeper-beneath tunes that nodded to 50s and 60s classic pop. On her new album, the Vancouver/Toronto musician’s voice is as enchanting as ever, its warmth belying the despondent lyrics. She makes singing sound easy – kind of like Neko Case, a songwriter she vaguely evokes on sixth song He’s My Woman.
Gauzy synths and a gothic aesthetic dominate, replacing the summery guitar-jangle of her earlier material. It’s unhappy stuff, but descriptors like “icy” and “distancing” don’t apply. Instead, the keys add evocative layers of mood that enhance the strong melodies. The Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner and the Hive’s Colin Stewart came on as producers – excellent choices.
And yet flat-out enthusiasm eludes me. Maybe that’s due to the album’s slow, premeditated pace, its dampened mood, its intermittently on-the-nose lyrics, its lack of surprises. Burns, also a member of electro-pop band Gold & Youth, isn’t at all fired up. Or maybe it’s a grower. Whatever the case, I still believe.
Top track: Mother Of Earth
