Lia Kessel, a.k.a. Lia Ices, has been around a while now, and though she never broke through the way QRO thought she would/hoped, she has continued to make beautiful music. The vocals & piano of Family Album have a sweetness that adds, not subtracts, from the considerable meaning & power beneath.
Much of Family will make you smile at first, but then think harder about things as the song goes on. The alt-country relax to “Young On the Mountain” becomes more complex, while the beauty & rhythm of “Beauty Blue” goes bigger. The title track is both a celebration of family and also a wistful look back at it. And even after the loss throughout the record, it ends with a more hopeful, glowing finish in “Our Time”.
Produced by JR White (Girls), who recently passed away, there is both appreciation of the past and sadness at what has been lost on Family Album.
