Back a decade, half-a-decade ago, Stuart McLamb’s The Love Language was another sweet home state find for famed North Carolina indie imprint Merge Records, growing from the fifties sweet of 2010’s Libraries (QRO review) into more indie-rock with 2013’s Ruby Red (QRO review). Then the outfit seemingly disappeared, because it’s really hard to keep an indie band going these days. But now The Love Language return, with the incredibly diverse Baby Grand.
As is often the case with act focused around a single singer/songwriter, especially ones that have been away for a while for him to build up lots of new material, Baby Grand has a variety of musical styles – and also naturally, some work better than others. There’s the powerful uplift of “New Amsterdam” and “Castle In the Sky”, and the relaxed & wise smooth to “Shared Spaces”. The smooth on the preceding “Juiceboxx” is a little to high-pitched, however, and McLamb can lean into the overwrought emotion, such as “Southern Doldrums”. But then there’s the strong sweetness to “Independence Day”.
The scattering of genres does make Baby Grand a bit hard to get ahold of, and one wonders how it will play live. But it’s great to have The Love Language back.
