Type: Lyrics are included with the album, Compilation (best of)
Genre: Folk
Review
Laura Love was just another bass player on the Seattle grunge scene until a critic chastised her for wasting her talents in an "annoyingly pointless" band called Boom Boom G.I. Smacked with a midlife crisis before her time, she began writing songs which abandoned grunge altogether in favor of a uniquely eclectic mix of influences from around the world. So far-flung are these influences, in fact, that the all-American girl signed her first record contract with a world music label, Putumayo. The sole product of that contract is this anthology, which features highlights from her first three albums (all of which were issued on her own Octoroon Biography label). The Collection is an excellent introduction to Love's distinctive style, which she calls "Afro-Celtic." That's as good a description as any, but it fails to capture the breadth of her eclecticism. Her funky bass-plucking draws on soul and R&B, but her raw-but-rangy vocals seem most influenced by the blues and bluegrass. The widely varied rhythms come chiefly from African percussion, while the fiddling, pennywhistling, reeling and balladeering of the Irish are littered throughout the album. The songs lack pop polish, favoring the authentic roughness of low-income musical traditions, both urban and rural. There are also healthy doses of Native American spirit, rock & roll drive, European yodeling, Harlem-style street poetry, and jazz swing. But the most inventive element of her songcraft is the dynamic vocal arrangement she gives to her memorable melodies. It seems impossible not to become engaged by the hyper harmonies, which lend considerable sophistication to bouncy lines like "A Ha Me a Riddle I Day" and "I d'nuh I d'nuh I d'nuh I do not always think less is more." When it comes to these richly layered arrangements, more very often is more. ~ Darryl Cater, All Music Guide
