Album Review: LP – Love Lines
2 min read
Laura Pergolizzi took the stage name LP when they moved from Long Island to NYC back in the late 90’s. Since then, they have amassed six albums (prior to Love Lines), three EPs and a string of song writing credits for a list of musicians that would make most musically sheltered sit up and take note of. LP gained wider acclaim with Lost On You in 2017 which reached the upper echelons of the charts worldwide. With Love Lines, their seventh album (released under BMG), they show that the creative well is not dry, offering an album which has more sides than a polyhedral dice!
Unmistakable Latin-based guitar playing introduces opening number Golden, which weaves catchy vocals evangelising loves and losses in with into a driving, galloping beat, which is sure to make a pop banger. Moving the tempo up a notch, Wild has an arrangement which instantly makes think Future Islands (big compliment from me, BTW), with artist Levante bringing some lovely soft Italian vocals in the break during mid-track. A down-tempo salsa beat weaves though Dayglow, this leads perfectly into two lovely slow-dance tunes in Long Goodbye & Love Lines where LP uses some lovely vocal vibrato.
Moving the tempo of the album back up a notch or two, Hola is the second Latin-guitar, salsa dance track of the album, with some Santana-influenced guitar riffs and brass elements LP brings out a more classic indie rock track One Like You where at times I felt some real Belinda Carlisle vibrato vibes to the singing. A harder edged beat greats you in Love Song in what is sure to be one of the more prominent tracks from the album, with an addictive chorus and driving tempo to the song, and this starkly contrasts with the more Cali folk track Big Time, a beautifully written and composed number which I feel is another of LPs standout tracks.
Blow is a beautiful symphony of piano, orchestral percussion, guitar and some truly haunting, yet beautiful, melody, and this is contrasted with the more aggressive, driven track Burn It Down. Rounding off the album, Hold The Light provides the second melodic Cali folk track, and really winds the album down to its conclusion.
A well-constructed, well executed album, Love Lines doesn’t feature any of LP’s signature whistling, but the common theme on the album are LP’s vocals hitting the high end are ever-present. The Latin influence is clear in many of the tracks, though staying grounded in indie/pop-rock roots, and the album provides a good menagerie of songs which will cater to all moods of both LP diehards and newbies to LPs music – It’s definitely worth a listen.
