Between work with sister Kristin Hersh’s band Throwing Muses, the Breeders, her own band Belly, guest along with artists like Mission of Burma and her recent solo ventures, Tanya Donelly has racked up quite an impressive discography. Her back catalogue contains a variety of sounds, encompassing pretty much everything under the umbrella-term “rock”.
For this, her third solo album, Donnelly slows down the pace, resulting in an album that really is as solo as you can get. All songs are written or co-written by Donelly herself, frills are reduced to a bare minimum and, other than a tinkling piano and a gently strumming guitar, there isn’t much to draw attention away from the lovely voice and sincere lyrics of the artist herself.
From the movingly languid opening track ‘Divine Sweet Divide’, things get off to a good start and progress smoothly via the title song (which actually sounds like it was recorded in the middle of a heavy drinking session – in a good way) and the country sound of ‘Just In Case You Quit Me’ to the bizarre closing bars of ‘Fallout’.
The album’s greatest strength is that there’s enough variety to keep your attention focused and the lyrics never reek of singer-songwriter cliché. Unfortunately, as one track shuffles into the next, you can’t help but wait for the pace to pick up just a little. Towards the end the uninterrupted melancholy gets a little – dare I say it – tiresome.
On the whole, however, this is a beautifully low-key album. And should you yearn for something more upbeat, you can always reach for that back catalogue.