A deft songwriter and witty lyricist,
Clare Love shows more promise in five songs than the most weathered veterans show over entire careers. On her new E.P., Finding Home, the unpredictability of Love’s strumming on her acoustic guitar is reminiscent of early Ani Difranco, as can be the way she brandishes her torrid voice; always potent, it can go from Doris Day sensual to Linda Perry steely in an instant, inveigling your ears into a sonic submission. In the opening track, “Winterbloom Serenade” Love sings, “Stories running wild with you/Plot starving thin/Love renting rooms in you/A dollar fifty a sin” before asking “Is this hard life finally catching up with you?” Showing equal parts assertiveness and vulnerability, the songs are snapshots of moments we all know too well. In the cathartic “Coma” when she sings, “You only want me when I’m tired of you” it hurts because it’s true. The most honest things in life are always the hardest to face. The mirror that Love sets her listener in front of is foreboding. Though not forgetful, the reflection it offers back is forgiving. On the album’s title track she sings, “Everybody’s gotta have a good breakdown.” If this is what a good breakdown did for her we should all be grateful. Finding Home, the E.P., sounds just like finding home, the journey in life, should: really good.

This post is tagged Clare Love, Finding Home