Former Things is the taste of bitter pills washed down with large gulps of rum. Former Things is a party starter, floor filler and thrilling midnight smash. A headspinner on the turntable. Former Things is bad juju, evil voodoo, groovy good times and honed hedonism. It’s a carefully constructed causeway to the temple of tunes.
Previous album Hinterland was a groovy album but also a studiously obsessed look at Manchester psychogeography and the effects on it’s people. For the follow up, LoneLady has put her dancing shoes on. She’s looked around and decided what the world really needs right now, is acid house, bright colours, drum machines and smiley faces. The result is Former Things.
The album starts with ‘The Catcher’ it comes at you out of the speakers. The bass thumps into you as if you’ve never even heard bass before. ‘The Chaser’ hits like collapsing redwoods. Julie’s vocals dart like a fox between the farm outhouses.
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‘Former Things’ is fresh, spiky, pineapple-esque. Vocals are warm and affectionate. The video is a wonderful summation of LoneLady is, and what she stands for…
‘Time Time Time’ gyrates and twitches like a Fad Gadget / Gang Of Four mashup. LoneLady has her idols, totems cast in monoliths and the way she worships is no dry recantation of the runes but an active appreciation of the life lessons learnt and endured. This ain’t no preacher, this is a communicator who rolls the dice and spins the wheel ready for the next wave, to see what come around on the spokes.
‘Fear Colours’ contorts Cabaret Voltaire, Julie has the psychic stain of Sheffield electro indelibly inked on her id.
‘Treasure’ thumps majestic.
‘Terminal Ground’, brings Julie to a boundary with Ballard (surely a spirit guide) ending this rampant ride with a final KO.
LoneLady has an built endless tessellation out of joy, for your joy. This is a finely honed dedication to music as medication. You can see New Order squeezed through a colander and with the 21st century breathing down it’s neck. A party for a weary world. LoneLady stands as a fin-di-siecle artist caught looking at both sides of the epocal apex. Like Vini Reilly she is a Manchester artist who sees music as emotional communication, like Plato she sees shadows and forms, like Blake she burns with creation. Each LoneLady album is carved from a piece of her soul. You can sense the soul that is poured from her pores every time she makes music. Her art is earnt through ritual, through experience.
Former Things is LoneLady’s best album… So far…
https://lonelady.bandcamp.com/album/former-things
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