Lydia Loveless Returns, Daughter in Tow

I was just listening to some Lydia Loveless albums with friends on the 4th of July, agreeing how incredible she is and wondering when she was ever going to put out another album, as it’s been four years since Real came out.

The answer came just a couple weeks later, with the announcement of the September 25th release of her new LP, Daughter, coming via her new label Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records. Written in her home studio in the wake of upheaval in Lydia’s life – she left her husband (Ben Lamb, who’d been the bass guitarist in her band) and moved from her longtime base of Columbus, Ohio to North Carolina – the album reflects those changes while charting new musical territory and techniques such as writing more on piano than guitar.

“I took a break because I was exhausted. But it was also out of the necessity of trying to learn who I was. I spent the last ten years as a ‘growing up on the farm country gal,’ and felt like I needed to think about who I am now,” Loveless confides. “I felt frustrated with myself for going straight from my tumultuous teen years into a marriage so that I could feel safe, and right when I was getting out of the situation, people around me were settling down and having kids. I felt lost and inexperienced… And I was living as an individual for the first time, and don’t have maternal desires. My family was in turmoil so defining myself as a daughter or sister didn’t give me much comfort.”

In advance of the album, a nutty video has been released for the lead single, “Love Is Not Enough.” “The song is a response to the old-fashioned idea that love is all you need as opposed to understanding, or give and take,” Loveless explains. “For the video, my friend and I came up with the idea of two asshole characters running around terrorizing someone until they snap, and ultimately find out these guys’ heads are just full of rocks and old food… The papier-mâché elements create a sort of otherworldly vibe that I think everyone is feeling right now.”

Photo by Megan Toenyes.