Lou Barlow - Reason to Live - CASSETTES

After decades on the road and the never-ending hustle of life as an artist, Lou Barlow has tapped into a new confidence in the chaos. In 2021, the concept of balance feels particularly intimidating. Now more than ever, it's clear life isn't just leveling out a pair of responsibilities. Instead, we're chasing after a flock of different ideals with a butterfly net. On Barlow's new solo album, Reason to Live, he has come to an understanding of that swirl rather than trying to contain it.As a long-time indie legend, Barlow has found a life akin to a middle-class musician. In recent years, he's moved from Los Angeles back to Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and three kids. And yet rather than settle into a comfortable malaise or yearn for the open road, Barlow's strengthened urgency finds a way to merge the two instincts. Reason to Live is shambolic and grand yet intimate and doting, warmly acoustic and crackling with grit. InchI had been struggling for a way to connect both my home life and my recorded life, but this record is the first time I've integrated that,Inch Barlow says. By folding the many facets of his life into one package, Reason to Live radiates with a renewed balance and calm.That comfort in complexity shines through even in the recording process, with select songs having origins in decades past and others written in the early stages of 2020. Barlow wrote lead single InchLove InterveneInch in 2018, and set out to recreate the layered acoustics while adapting the lyrics to his new present. The resulting propulsive track rides on interlocking strumming patterns, Barlow's voice as crisp as a New England breeze. InchTide after tide, change is the meaning of life/ It turns any wall into sand,Inch he exhales, before yet again calling for love to lead the way through.Album opener InchIn My ArmsInch quite literally pulls from Barlow's teen years, utilizi