After a decade of fronting the Ettes, and a little time filling in for Neko Case in the New Pornographers, Coco Hames steps out with her first solo effort. This album of dyspeptic love songs was recorded in Nashville, with an A-list of the town’s indie-rock greats. Its wide-open sound is full of giant guitars, processed keyboards and retro beats, suggesting a meeting between Lee Hazlewood and Ennio Morricone at the Brill Building. Hames uses the ominous girl-group sound of “I Do Love You” to serenade a guy she knows full well will never come back. “This House Ain’t A Home” is a country waltz that describes the breakup of a marriage with an acerbic lyric, while on “Long Time Coming,” Hames delivers a playful invitation to debauchery. You can almost sense the smile on her lips when she sings, “There ain’t nothing wrong with a little bit of you tonight.”
—j. poet
