 |
 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
|
Lay Low
Please Don't Hate Me
Independent
The title of Lay Low’s debut album, Please Don’t Hate Me, is a modest misnomer if I’ve ever heard one: I instantly fell in love with this lo-fi alt-country gem after one spin, and it will assuredly make my annual top ten list. 24-year-old Icelander Lovisa Elisabeth Sigrunardottir has masterminded an 11-track palette of country-blues balladry that’s equal parts heartache and bliss.
It’s spare, rare, and achingly debonair beyond compare—that said, some referential points might help orient the reader to Lay Low’s coy croon and gritty guitarscape. If you’ve wondered how Björk might sound if she jettisoned her synthesizers and computers and took up a six-string in the corner barstool of a saloon, listen to Lay Low’s “Beauty” (“Where did you get those eyes dear, when you look at me I’m fragile…Where did you get them hairlocks and the lips I just can’t hold back?”).
If you’ve wished that Beth Gibbons’ collaboration with Rustin Man had yielded more angsty groves (ala Portishead stripped down), listen to Lay Low’s “Mojo Love” (“Mojo love, mojo fun, swing your hips, forget the pain, it’s all in vain, use your wits…it’s the new way to cure the hurt and heartache, don’t you worry, you’re going to a different side”). If you’ve missed the dark, atmospheric spaceland of Hope Sandoval and David Roback of Mazzy Star, try Lay Low’s “Too Late” (“With you—confused, with all the best to lose. Happy thoughts, lonely days, my selfish heart, my wandering ways, I close my eyes and hope to get, one last kiss on my salty lips, I turn around and say goodnight, too late.”).
If you’ve longed for the reincarnation of Billie Holiday sans band, Lay Low’s “Bye Babe” comes closest to it (“One sad sucker, I feel my hope is gone, for the life I wanted with you is no more. Silly I know, but I saw right away, there was somethin’ missin’, it wasn’t okay. Couldn’t get a grip on what it could be, but all I want is you here with me. My baby has left me here, all alone with all my tears”).
If you’re hungry for more O Brother Where Art Thou? honkytonk, Lay Low’s “Home” and “Mama” should do the trick. My personal favorite cut is the slide-guitar-driven toe-tapper “Boy Oh Boy,” which echoes Stevie Ray Vaughan. The title track “Please Don’t Hate Me” would fit right at home on the soundtrack to Kill Bill 2, for both its thematic content and its dusty grit.
And if you somehow didn’t already hear Johnny Cash channeled through all of the above tracks, then “I’ll Try” seals the deal (“Don’t go chasin’ after worthless things, no use in buyin’ love with the trials it brings. People come and people go but do they stay? Try to live a life that doesn’t fade away”). Lay Low will easily find her niche among the No Depression fanbase, but you don’t have to love alt-country to be ensnared by this tantalizing bramble.
If you’ve known love and heartbreak, then Lay Low will suck the poison right out of that snakebite. This record’s grade-A rawhide.
--Mark Cabasino
Can we help you find something?