“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies: God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
So goes the Kurt Vonnegut passage from which Four Eyes’ latest album, Welcome to Earth, takes its name. It’s a kindred companion to the record that Athens singer-songwriter Erin Lovett released last month, a tender and fragile collection of songs that find their strength in the simplicity of their presentation and perceptive lyrical stylings.
It’s strange to attach a word like “juggernaut” to something as delicate as Four Eyes, but it’s one of the few words that can capture the scope of prolificacy with which Lovett writes, records, and releases her music. Since 2012, the folk singer has given us thirteen EPs or LPs of music to cherish, each one as satisfying as the last, and Welcome to Earth is no exception.
Lovett’s latest returns to the dark folk stylings which she so expertly crafts, while maintaining an undeniable sense of hopefulness. Listeners will find the woefulness of Elliot Smith paired with the classic folk leanings of Joni Mitchell and Jackson C. Frank, all wrapped together in a presentation that feels modern while maintaining an elusive timelessness.
Instrumentally, the record is fairly naked, relying on Lovett’s comforting vocals and understated guitar playing to carry the songs more often than not. Sprinkled throughout are slightly unconventional melodies and chord progressions that twist and turn at the moments listeners least expect them — melodies that lead you to anticipate one note but drop you into a resolution that you can’t see coming. She often forgoes choruses, opting instead to weave narratives in-between her verses and tags.
Featuring poignant song titles like “St. Francis Loves All the Animals” and “All Year I Did Nothing But Think Of You,” this album is riddled with tiny truths that are posited effortlessly. Take the opening lines from “You Are A House With Every Light Left On,” for example: “On weekends I sleep in, make coffee, feel lazy / And all the time I’m wondering why I was so slow to appreciate moments like these with you.” Or this bit of metaphysical musing from “Heavenly Dimension,” when the songwriter chirps, “But what good is a lightness without the darkness to compare?” Lovett has a distinct knack for articulating close, careful observations about the mundanities of life and love, and does so in a way that is tasteful and lends itself to a strong literary tradition.
I truly cannot say enough about this LP. If you’re a romantic as I am, this record is for you. It’s tender and hopeful with an authenticity that many folk singers spend decades trying to emulate and acquire. It’s an album that demands your undivided attention on a long drive or a quiet summer evening at home alone, the perfect soundtrack for those silences that hang between friends or lovers or family. If you’re not a romantic, you will be after listening to Welcome to Earth.
More Info
Bandcamp: foureyesathens.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @FourEyesAthens
SoundCloud: @erinlovett