Album Review: Louise Lemon - A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart

Music isn't fun anymore. That sounds a bit dramatic, doesn't it? I admit that, but there's more than a hint of truth to it. In the mainstream, pop music has become so dour and minimalist that there's no more bright shiny songs that make us smile. In the rock and metal worlds, more and more of the music that garners interest is venturing further and further into the recesses of darkness. It isn't fun to listen to music most of the time. But it doesn't have to be fun. There are times when the darkness is what we want, and when that happens, there is more than one way to filter the moonlight. For an artist like Louise Lemon, playing with shadows becomes an art form.

In these thirty-four minutes, she uses dark sounds and emotions to cut our heartstrings, rather than pull at them. This is a trying record, one that you can't take lightly, or out into the light. Like a vampire, it can only exist in the darkness.

Louise's songs are charcoal sketches, monochrome images that are as blunt as they are nuanced. But they are also sketches in the sense that they aren't fully fleshed out into songs that effectively carry out their mission. The opening "Sunlight" is three minutes long, but spends the entire first half setting up the mood, so there isn't much to reveal once the stage has been set. With this kind of slow-burning atmosphere, more time is needed to properly draw out the maximum effect. Many of these songs move in and out of the melodies so fast they feel incomplete.

"Not Enough" is a case where everything comes together, which is why it was chosen as the single to introduce the world to the record. There are spartan pianos that bring to mind some of Adele's ballads, but then the hook of the song swells with a fuzzy drone guitar, not the orchestral backing you might expect. That gives Louise's music a dirtier, grittier sound that contrasts well with her voice.

This is a subtle album, perhaps too subtle. Louise has a lovely voice, and the smoky after-hours vibe works, but I'm left with a hunger for a bit more bite to the songs. I can do soft and somber, but I still need something in the songs to hook me in. Neither the pianos nor Louise's melodies are able to do that. Everything is pretty, but ephemeral like a chalk drawing on the sidewalk. You know it will disappear as soon as a light shower passes along. In the same way, even though I can appreciate the music I'm hearing, I know it will wane in my memory until it is fully eclipsed.

I sometimes talk about prog being music made more for the musician than the audience. I get that same impression from this record. It feels like something Louise needed to make, and enjoys pouring her voice into, but it is so insular to her interpretation that we aren't able to make that same connection. There are a couple of moments when we come close, mostly the most upbeat (though still not happy) songs, "Not Enough" and "Cross". Those tracks hit on a sound that is dark, nuanced, but still lively enough to catch your attention. If the record was more like that, it would be easier to recommend.

As it is, Louise Lemon has made a record that is sonically beautiful, and perhaps the right soundtrack for a certain mood. What it isn't, though, is a record that will be engaging enough to keep my interest over time.