LoneLady
Former Things
Release Date: Jun 25, 2021
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival
Record label: Warp
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Album Review: Former Things by LoneLady
Excellent, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4
LoneLady (otherwise known as Julie Campbell) has been Manchester’s best kept secret for a while now. She’s never been the most prolific of artists – Former Things is just her third album since 2010 – but her previous two records seemed to perfectly encapsulate that particular area of the north west. Former Things follows six years on from her last record Hinterland, and Campbell seems to be using a broader palette to work with this time round.
Based on rating 7.7/10
As LoneLady, Julie Campbell achieves a certain paradox: quiet maximalism. She makes music firmly in the post-punk tradition, but unlike many landfill nu-New Orders doing the same, her work is expansive, not reductive. Time and again, she likens her work to psychogeography, what she's called an ….
Opinion: Very Good
Mancunian artist LoneLady's 'Former Things' opens with the reverberating bass of 'The Catcher,' melting into a distinctly 80s-inspired synth that characterises the record. The casting away of post-punk guitar for synthesisers is intentional but keeping a little more guitar in would have helped this record avoiding the shallower sounds it sometimes falls into. Born from a Somerset House Studios residency, the album was written between 2016 and 2018, going back into production across 2019 and 2020.
'Former Things'
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