Though she last released a record of her own with 2015's celebrated
I Can't Imagine
, singer/songwriter
Shelby Lynne
kept busy. She cut the sublime covers set
Not Dark Yet
with sister
Allison Moorer
. She also worked with producer, director, and screenwriter
Cynthia Mort
on an as-yet-unreleased film entitled When We Kill the Creators.
Lynne
stars as a world-weary singer trying to navigate the choices between commercial success and her own creativity. This self-titled album evolved out of that project. Half its lyrics were penned by
Mort
, and
plays most of the instruments herself: guitar, bass, drums, synth, even a rudimentary saxophone on "My Mind's Riot." She did enlist help a handful of pianists including
Mimi Freidman
,
Benmont Tench
Ed Roth
Billy Mitchell
on various tracks.
Despite the homegrown, intimate quality of the record, it's quite disciplined. As a songwriter,
's knowledge and authoritative use of classic L.A. pop, sophisticated soul, the jazz song tradition, rhythm & blues, and roots rock, are formidable. "Strange Things" is a nocturnal, suffocatingly intimate jazzy blues with searing lyrics by
: "The clumsiness of it/The fumbling, crashing, fuck of it/The bandaged mess/The worn, torn angel scars â?¦ Love keeps us crawlingâ?¦." But
reaffirms love and commitment in "I Got You," the very next song. Here,
Dusty Springfield
's influence is evident. Her rhythmic, slipstream phrasing hovers elegantly in and around
Tench
's Wurlitzer. It addresses her beloved with unflinching commitment and desire. "Love Is Coming," co-written with
, is almost uncomfortably vulnerable with its "Walk on the Wild Side" bassline, lilting guitars, and piano. This is a
we have heard from only selectively. The back-to-back "Weather" and "Revolving Broken Heart" are confessional songs about being bereft and left in the zero by a now absent lover, with graceful, glacial tempos and minimal arrangements,
's voice offers painful truths. First single "Don't Believe in Love" cut with her road band, offers a breathless, heartbreaking lyric penned by
atop a swinging, gentle pop rocker that hearkens back to
's widely acclaimed
I Am Shelby Lynne
. On "Here I Am," her only accompaniment is
Mitchell
's piano. It's a slow, declamatory anthem with gospel overtones.
's poetic lyric is right at home in
's mouth pouring out like cool, clear water. She imbues it with a meaning understood by anyone who has loved unselfishly. This is the album
's hinted at for a decade. It's life-affirming in expressing romantic obsession and doubt, loneliness and fear, desire and steely commitment.
's protagonists are stark naked in voicing their wounds and wants, whether they be emotional, spiritual, and/or physical.
is a profound meditation on amorous complexity and cost; it's arguably the most powerful record in the songwriter's catalog. ~ Thom Jurek