"On Eliza McLamb's second album, Good Story, the singer-songwriter confronts this universal instinct to self-narrativize. "Catch it quick/Frame the image/Make your meaning before you've lived it," she sings on "Mausoleum," chiding herself for trying to nail down a story rather than inhabit her present experience. We're all liable to these behaviors, but McLamb feels their pull acutely. On her debut album, 2024's Going Through It, she excavated details of her childhood trauma and difficult relationships, topics she's also tackled as a stirring essayist and podcaster, and learned how to package them as art."
"McLamb and her band-which includes Jacob Blizard (who's played with Lucy Dacus); bassist Ryan Ficano; keyboardist Sarah Goldstone (who's played with Chappell Roan and boygenius); and Death Cab For Cutie drummer Jason McGerr-construct this version of events on a solid indie-rock foundation. There are tinges of Lilith Fair pop-rock, especially in McLamb's lilting delivery, and echoes of her contemporaries like Dacus and Soccer Mommy."
Good Story examines the impulse to self-narrativize and the tendency to prepackage meaning instead of inhabiting present experience. The song "Mausoleum" captures that impulse with the lyric "Catch it quick/Frame the image/Make your meaning before you've lived it." The album builds on material from Going Through It, which mined childhood trauma and difficult relationships, and asks what those anecdotes ultimately add up to. The record rests on an indie-rock foundation bolstered by collaborators Jacob Blizard, Ryan Ficano, Sarah Goldstone, and Jason McGerr. Musical touches range from Lilith Fair pop-rock echoes to scorching guitar solos, adding depth and variety.
Read at Pitchfork
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]