The second album from the Michigan trio Lightning Love is a swaggering bit of indie pop that may well appeal to fans of both Fiery Furnaces and Rilo Kiley. It's a tasteful blend of sass and wise-guy lyrics embedded in sophisticated songwriting. Leah Diehl has a girlish voice that trills like a chickadee or flatly spits out a hard truth when it’s called for; she hammers her piano with force, softening her blows only when subtlety is demanded. Using a less-is-more aesthetic, Lightning Love’s songs are uncluttered, tightly constructed arcs of simple, colorful keyboards (organ, synths, piano), meeting with snappy snares and thudding toms or streaks of vigorous, emphatic guitar. The playing is sure, sharp, and pointed, giving Lightning Love’s brand of pop surprising muscle. Diehl’s accusatory lyrics are imbued with self-pitying: “Why aren’t you ever with me? Why won’t you ever ... kiss me?” she asks bleakly on “Deadbeat,” while she acidly asserts, “I don’t know why they’re so concerned ... I feel like everything I do is everybody’s problem” on “Together.” Tales of misplaced affections, bad behavior, and self-doubt never sounded so innocent or so forgivable.
More By Lightning Love
- 2009
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