Search - Tanya Donelly :: Lovesongs for Underdogs

Responsive Underdogs

A. Bonomo | New York | 01/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my most satisfying impulse buys ever. I only got around to it this year though I remember reading years ago that it was pretty good and I liked Ms. Donelly's work with Belly. But I was not a really big fan and just never got around to it. Recently I was feeling nostalgic for the music that was fading out of fashion in the beginning of my adolescence but not actually for adolescents. Lovesongs for Underdogs was exactly what I was looking for and then some.



Tanya Donelly has a deceptively sweet little girl voice. Some of her lyrics are whimsically mysterious, you are likely to overlook the power of what she is saying, which is not to be taken lightly. Lovesongs for Underdogs starts with some rockers that are not really a surprise to anyone who is familiar with her previous work in Belly. Pretty Deep rocks while wondering about our fascination with macabre and extremes when our lives are banal and safe. It sets the tone for the first part of the albums where it is hard to determine whether you want the romance or are too disgusted by it ("The Bright Light") the belief and fear that you could do something really amazing. (Landspeed Song). And of course when you don't believe in the security of you world it means that you have been looking out into the world and seeing how incomprehensible it is. "Mysteries of the Unexplained" is where this tone shift comes. After this the songs are no longer about questioning to use other forms of narration. And Ms. Donelly gets to play with her voice imitating bird calls and the hum of the electric guitar. There is out right rocker of impossible love ("Breathe Around You"). There is also a challenge wrapped a the feeling of violation ("Bum")



The weakest song in the collection is "Goat Girl" where the singer contemplates being more "brutish" than the man she did not want desires. It is cutesy and fun but lacks the mystery and challenge of her best work. The Last two songs, "Manna" and "Swoon" fit together beautifully. "Manna" uses the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer to jump into a dissolving into the universe fantasy that is inviting as it is unknowable. "Swoon" brings us back to corporeal reality while the singer observes someone who is very angry with her, but this anger only highlights the singers mysterious, and normal strengths. It is one of my favorite album closers.

"

Great solo album...

Angela Scott-Cox | many places, right now Spring Lake, NC | 07/15/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I know Tanya Donelly from Belly and I guess when I picked this solo album up I was expecting much the same sound, but she goes for a more mellow approach. Her vocals are good and the alternative-pop songs are catchy. I would recommend this."