Sometimes you have to spend some time away from home in order to see it as it really is.
Laurel Sprengelmeyer
, aka
Little Scream
, was born and raised in the United States before she settled in Canada and made a name for himself in the local indie music community. After releasing her second album,
Cult Following
, in 2016, she toured heavily in America and was struck by how vast the economic divide between the wealthy and the underserved had become, and the many ways in which poverty manifested itself. What she saw has become the foundation of the third
album, 2019's
Speed Queen
, a moody but beautifully crafted set of intelligent indie pop melodies matched to vocals that are graceful on first glance but speak of lives teetering on the brink if you're willing to take a closer look. The LP's title track speaks of the anxieties and desperation of a woman whose greatest wish is to have the means and stability to own her own washer and dryer, a simple dream that is painfully far from her reach. And elsewhere,
Sprengelmeyer
sets her sights on the rule of
Donald Trump
("Dear Leader"), the short-term comfort and long-term burdens of both money and drugs ("Disco Ball"), and the refusal of the privileged class to recognize the needs of others ("Privileged Child"). The songs on
reflect the personal as well as the political, but when
sings about love, it still comes from a place where things are no longer easy and struggle is a component of every aspect of an ordinary life. Despite the downbeat tone of the material, the creamy richness of
's voice gives the songs a warmth and humanity that is compassionate towards her protagonists even as she calls out those who keep them down, and the music is lightly funky with a subtle '70s accent that adds snap and sinew to the melodies.
demonstrated that
was an artist with remarkable potential as a songwriter and vocalist, and
adds to that, revealing how much she has to say about the world around her and how well she expresses her hopes and fears. ~ Mark Deming