“I can’t believe the worst kinds of people achieve/ Everything they want/ But it takes medication to get me off.” In her new song, Lydia Loveless does a damn fine job of encapsulating what it’s like to live in the here and now. With a clear, powerful voice and a meaty twang to the music — both qualities evoking early records by Neko Case — Loveless puts her feeling of ache and misery at the forefront, acknowledging the dangers of putting too much weight on a romantic relation as a key that unlocks the jail door of depression. “I shouldn’t have to break you down to build me up,” she sings, and the simplicity of that statement feel like the true path to freedom.
Daughter, the new album from Loveless, is scheduled for release in late September. It’ll be on her own label, Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records, because the music business is crawling with creeps.