Lilly Hiatt – Lately
New West Records – 2021
For her fifth album, Lately, Lilly Hiatt returns to a more poppy indie sound, albeit with country inflections, with a catchy clutch of songs all having one-word titles. The album was co-produced with drummer Kate Halpern and features guitarists Mike LoPinto and Corey Hinson, the latter’s father, Steve, on pedal steel, Micah Hulscher on keys and bassist Robert Hudson.
It’s an often acoustic affair, such as the opening walking beat, pedal steel coated Simple that immediately reminds you of her distinctive twangy, warbling vocal style as she remembers family gatherings (“My dad turned on the speakers/It was my brother’s birthday/I hugged my mom and sister/We had so much to say”) and how memories “can take me right back there/A place I thought I left behind somewhere”, a theme of connection that runs throughout.
There’s a chuggier bluesier Southern groove to the restlessness (“Not meant to stay in one place/Stillness just steals my grace”) and finding ways to get through the pressures (“I close my eyelids tightly/I think of Amsterdam / Biking through the alley/Black Angels turned to 10”) of Been, swathed with echoey, ambient guitar in the final stretch.
The title track then arrives on a repeated shimmering organ cascade for a wistful post-breakup reflection (“One day this will all be a distant memory/But right now it’s living inside of me”) tinged with regret (“Forget what I said, I want you baby/You’ve no idea what this has done to me lately”) because “I can’t pretend to think of you as my friеnd”.
Tumbling chords, a walking drum beat and acoustic and chiming guitars carry along the obsessive-natured Stop, “can’t stop/I couldn’t even if I wanted to” and “Dream about you/Everything I ever wanted/I see you every night, I really do”.
Underpinned by a reverb guitar riff, Peach returns to the earlier note of regret over perhaps a too hasty decision to end things (“I can’t believe that I let it win/And you were always there saying ‘try again’/But I can’t be the only bruised peach/Sometimes you were hard to reach”), giving way to the scene-setting desert wind opening to Ride, a slow, acoustic strum about escaping the loneliness (and the pandemic-enforced hiatus) – “Sparkling marquees/Once had my name/Nothing’s the same “) by simply taking a ride with the one she loves.
Conjuring Stevie Nicks thoughts, the poppy-twang Face returns to a pedal steel buoyed country sound, a punchy drum beat and a lyric about beating herself up (“have to forgive myself one of these days/We get our hands on something beautiful and let it fade/And I can’t look at you anymore”), reverb guitar once more putting in an appearance on Better, a reminder that it’s probably better to let the embers die away rather than stoking them (“I just wanted to come over for a kiss/I didn’t know it would be anything like this”) and then being unable to dampen the fire (“Turn on a fucking porch light/And answer my call”).
With its heavy muffled, distorted guitar riff, the more experimental, Gem flirts with hard rock territory, although drums are atypically absent, on another reflection on a failed relationship and putting on a brave public face (“We had some good times, right?/When I see you out I’ll be a gem/I’ll smile and say I used to go with him”) while in private “I just sit around and blink/Dishes piled in my sink/I won’t ask you to come by/I won’t let you see me cry”.
It ends, aptly, with the flowing pedal steel and strum of The Last Tear, the only title to break the word limit. As it breaks into a brisk pace, she comes to an acceptance that it’s no use crying over spilt milk (“I see you far away/But we don’t talk about it/What else is there to say?…Reliving every night does nothing at all”), even if she’s not quite ready to let it all go (“I read some letters that I shouldn’t have seen/I didn’t tell anyone anything/Should I just throw ’em out or put ’em in a drawer?/It’s nothing that I haven’t wondered before”), but resolved to “Keep on the go to try to outrun your heart/And things that happened before you could say your part…Asking for answers that you’re never gonna get”, the music of not the words embodying a feeling of liberation.
Lately is by far the most immediate and accessible album Lilly Hiatt’s made, packed with Top 40-friendly hooks and choruses, it’s infectiously irresistible.
Lately is out now on New West Records.
Stream: http://newwst.com/lately
Photo by Dylan Reyes