Review Summary: It’s Frank, it’s Frankie, it’s Francis
‘It’s Lomelda’ reads like a list of influences: “It’s Low / It’s Yo / La Tengo / It’s The Innocence / Mission”. It’s a list that could go on. (It’s Hop Along. It’s Girlpool. It’s Alex G.) ‘It’s Lomelda’ is, though, a powerful assertion of self.
So, too, is
Hannah.
At the album’s centre is a question: “Who are you?” At its core (preceding it even) is an answer: “Hannah.” It’s a clear, simple solution to a big, complex problem. What it belies, though, is an album that is, in spite of its doubtfulness, formally adventurous.
Even at its least certain, like on the piano-driven ‘Stranger Sat by Me’, there is an openness, a searching. A single, minute-long verse flows abruptly into a beautifully-paced, exquisitely-produced sonic excursion that is chock-full of chunky piano, warbly synths, and crackly drums.
More often, Lomelda’s songs are like sketches or vignettes, stitched and seamed by the hands of Read and her brother Tommy: by virtue of her incredibly consistent, indie-folk songwriting, and his knack for subtle, but intentional production techniques.
Despite its searching,
Hannah exudes a qualified, though not-at-all-false confidence. This is for all the album’s questioning. The question becomes one of what
constitutes the one-word, two-syllable denomination. The answer is, at least in part, the album itself. Its lyrics, its notes, its influences. A rich, constitutive solution to a question well worth asking.
