Lydia Ainsworth - Sparkles & Debris - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Niccolo Jommelli - Fede Speranza E Amor Divino [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/08/2016

INDESTRUCTIBLE MACHINE, Lydia's Bloodshot debut, combines heady doses of punk rock energy and candor with the country classicism she was raised on and just can't shake. From foggy mountain throw downs where she sounds like a tuff Neko Case, to muscular power pop driven by choppy, tense guitar tonalities recalling Television's Richard Lloyd to the take no S**t spirit of Loretta Lynn and displaying country soul well beyond her years, Loveless true-to-life testimonials hit and hit hard. Be it whiskey, men, god or alienation, Lydia takes them all on; they may kick, but she kicks back harder.

On 'Phantom Forest' Lydia Ainsworth introduces a rich, complex dream world that she created and inhabits largely on her own. It's a beautiful, vast collection of art pop with hooks about the search for personal connections in the midst of apocalypse and technology. It's a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action. Lydia notes that although the self-produced album is considered pop, she approached it as an orchestrator. InchEven if I'm dealing purely with synths,Inch she says, InchThe songs are like a score, each one an evolving journey. I love to use strings so I've included my own arrangements on 'Tell Me I Exist' and 'Can You Find Her Place.' I recorded live musicians on drums, bass, and guitar on 'Edge of the Throne, The Time,' and 'Floating Dream,' and wove those live elements into my programmed elements.Inch She wrote and performed everything aside from a re-imagined cover of Pink Floyd's InchGreen is the ColorInch; two other tracks are co-written with Survive's Kyle Dixon (Stranger Things OST), to which Ainsworth wrote melodies and added lyrics to his instrumentals.