Every so often, an album comes out that is so quirky and poppy
\nthat it instantly catches your ear and makes you want to hear more.
\nLiz Phair shocked us into that position a few years ago, Shawn
\nColvin warmed her way into our hearts last year with
\nA Few Small Repairs<\/i>. Now, make way for Mary Lou Lord, whose
\ndebut
\nGot No Shadow<\/i> takes the best parts of the two singers
\npreviously mentioned and works them into her own style.<\/p>\n
Presently best-known for performing in the Boston-area subways
\n(a situation which should soon change), Lord makes a powerful first
\nstatement with these 13 songs. Her songwriting abilities are well
\nabove average, and her voice is able to convey a whole gamut of
\nemotions without having to change volume.<\/p>\n
Of course, having a few friends in high places doesn’t hurt
\nthings; Colvin herself provides background vocals on “Subway,”
\nwhile Roger McGuinn – perhaps you’ve heard of him? – adds a little
\n12-string action in “Lights Are Changing,” a song which has “first
\nsingle” written all over it. And famed producer Tom Lord-Alge’s
\nmixing of “Some Jingle Jangle Morning” (to my ear, the best song on
\nthe disc) takes an already great track to new heights. If this one
\ndoesn’t have you turning your ear for a second listen, then I don’t
\nknow what will.<\/p>\n
But what really makes Lord stand out is her attention to detail
\nof the human condition – she uses the framework of a song like an
\nartist would use a new canvas. On “She Had You,” Lord takes a look
\nback at the area she grew up in… and broke out of: “I have
\nrespect now – I always knew I would \/ ‘Cause I had a passport – out
\nof the neighborhood.” On “Throng Of Blowtown,” she takes an
\noutsider’s look at a typical night in the life of the city she
\ncalls home, and touches on just a few of the million stories she
\nbears witness to. Even on “His Lamest Flame,” though Lord might be
\nsinging about herself and a lover she pines for, she makes it feel
\nlike that could be us she’s singing about.<\/p>\n
\nGot No Shadow<\/i> has everything going for it, yet I still am
\ndisappointed that Lord is not credited with one guitar line on the
\nwhole album, despite posing for several pictures holding guitars.
\nIt’s not that performers like Elliott Smith or Nick Saloman are
\nbad, it’s just that for someone so touted as a performer, it would
\nhave been nice to hear even one cut with the raw, unrehearsed sound
\nof just Lord, her voice and guitar… and maybe a passing subway
\ntrain in the background.<\/p>\n
\nGot No Shadow<\/i> is an album that proves the age of the
\nsinger\/songwriter is alive and well, and that Lord is poised to be
\nthe next big name on your radio dial, given the right breaks. Trust
\nme – she’s earned ’em.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7264],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38696","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mary-lou-lord","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38696"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38696"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}