As a teenager growing up in the 90s I thought Kim Deal was cool in the best way – talented, fun and like she just didn’t give a fuck about anything. In the early 00s I met her while I was working at a venue she was playing at and she was super nice, even if a little out of it. She spoke of her addiction troubles during that time in a recent Guardian interview, saying ‘I would like to do those years again. I. Did. Not. Like. Them.”
What also resonated with me about that interview was how she spoke about the beauty of failure saying ‘…there’s something about trying to do something and then just getting utterly clobbered by life.’ If you’re not afraid of fucking up then you can do the unpredictable, like releasing your debut solo album at 63. In the end that fearless attitude has made ‘Nobody Loves You More’ a little triumph.
The album begins with the lines ‘I don’t know where I am and I don’t care/ I just stop at the sight of you standing there/I need to tell you nobody loves you more’ signalling this album’s central theme. Her voice remains the sweetest thing, childlike even at times, bringing an optimistic and heartfelt tone that has barely aged a day since the good old days of her previous bands. What has shifted is her musical vision – with the album featuring some experimental choices including a big brass section on this opening number.
On ‘Coast’ she muses on her past saying ‘all my life I’ve been foolish’ concluding ‘it don’t even matter/it’s human to want a way out’ sounding like she has come to a conclusion about her mistakes, forgiving herself in the kindest way.
‘Crystal Breath’ and ‘Disobedience’ both rock out with a simmering confidence of an artist who knows what she does well and is happy to give the stalwart fans a few classic sounding indie tunes alongside her more introspective material.
The beating heart of the record is the song for her mother ‘Are You Mine?’. Musically it is actually inspired by by her father’s love of George Jones and Waylon Jennings. The pedal steel echoes beautifully in the background, layered with strings as well and her voice sounding suitably heartbroken at her mother’s Alzheimer’s.
She isn’t afraid to look into the abyss. The darkest moment on the record is ‘Big Ben Beat’ which is full of distortion and “Bats in the Afternoon Sky’ which is a minute of haunting strangeness.
The song which originally insipired her to begin the solo project was ‘Summerland’ which has lush strings and creates a kind of sixties dazzling dream space.
Another highlight is ‘Come Running’ with its choir of backup singers and full of cathartic guitars. Final song ‘A Good Time Pushed’ feels like a fitting way to end the album, and a way to honour her producer Steve Albini who died soon after recording the album.
The cover image is a reference to the last known picture of artist Bas Jan Ader before he disappeared on an attempt to sail the Atlantic (he was also referenced on the latest Bright Eyes album). On this evidence Kim Deal’s not lost – she’s just out there, floating on, still discovering new musical possibilities, not afraid of anything. Not drowning but waving.
BUY: https://kimdeal.bandcamp.com/album/nobody-loves-you-more
Highway Queens 
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