The Love Language

Libraries (Merge)

By Dana Raidt
Published: July 15th, 2010 | 7:00am

The Love Language’s first album was written and recorded on a 4-track by frontman Stuart McLamb in a time of personal strife and redemption. After moving in with his parents and getting sober, McLamb made an album that was personal, messy, and laid all of his dysfunctional cards on the table in the form of earnest, jangly, lo-fi pop. Nowhere was this truer than on “Lalita,” a slightly sloppy (and autobiographical) account of a couple’s drunken fight. It turns out McLamb’s emotional baggage was great musical inspiration, and on its debut for Merge Records, the North Carolina band—now a five-piece—seems like it’s trying to recreate the magic of “Lalita.”

What’s immediately striking about Libraries is how saturated it is. The cover artwork, the heart-on-sleeve emotion in McLamb’s vocals, and even the way the songs are mixed—everything about the album bleeds off the edges. Strings, piano, guitars, and percussion create a Technicolor wall of sound that is unbelievably dense. Starting off with a slow, warm wave (“Pedals”) and pulling back a little with “This Blood is Our Own” and “Summer Dust,” Libraries takes “Lalita”’s endearing roughness and polishes it up. Like a dysfunctional yet passionate tryst with an old flame giving way to a healthier but ultimately less exciting relationship, it just isn’t the same. That isn’t to say it’s bad; it’s just different.

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The Love Language official Web site

The Love Language MySpace page

Merge Records