Nobody’s Girl — self-titled (Lucky Hound Music)
Is it possible to wear down a digital sound file? That’s what I’m about to do with Nobody’s Girl. I envision Fleetwood Mac’s soaring Wiccan harmonies colliding mid-air with Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 4th-gear driving American heart. The result is a cascading firework of sounds rendering my speakers blown, my vocal cords shot, and my brain drained of all dopamine. The instrumentation and playing on the trio’s debut self-titled release is radio-ready, other-worldly, atmospheric, and tasteful with the help of the infamous duo of Doug Pettibone and Charlie Sexton on guitars, Glenn Fukunaga on bass, David Grissom on guitar, J.J. Johnson, Ramy Antoun, and Conrad Choucroun on drums, and Michael Ramos on keyboards and percussion.
I’m loving the sounds coming out of my headphones like a dog loves their owner. All B.S aside, I’m telling you this because this group – veteran Austin singer-songwriters BettySoo, Grace Pettis, and The Voice alum Rebecca Loebe wrote nearly every damn song on this release. Some may say it sounds commercial. But before we sling arrows over that word let’s acknowledge that a song can only fail if you don’t truly believe in what you’re singing. I believe them dammit.
Favorite Lyrics:
“Beauty Way” – “Redtail diving for a rat on Sunset. Coyote picking through the trash. Oh I wish I was lying like a cat in the sun’ instead of working like a dog for the cash. I worked the clubs along the Sangre de Cristos. Polished the diamond in the rough. By the time I hit L.A. I was hotter than a pistol. But you’re never hot enough little darling. You never really hot enough.”
“What’ll I Do” – “I can see you just got a tattoo. Is that supposed to be Van Gogh? You wanna stay here ‘cause your rent is due. Something like 3 months ago.”
“Promised Land” shines a light on American division and political pride, flexing lyrical muscles with lines like: “Is there a sign on your neighbor’s lawn. That makes you wonder how we went so wrong? Show me a side we can all get on. I saw a man quilt an eight-foot flag – With just his hands and a pile of rags. Sometimes all we need is what we have.”
Other highlights include “Waterline” and “Lark” but I’m having a hard time choosing a favorite.
Nobody’s Girl could’ve taken the easy way out and hired someone else to do the heavy-lifting, writing the songs. So I’m standing on my coffee table and telling the world I love this band.
Nobody’s Girl hits all platforms July 30th Get your copy or stream here: https://www.wearenobodysgirl.com/
Mixers and Engineers/Assistant Engineers: Chris Bell, Dan Flynn, Jon Clover Brown, Kelleigh Flynn, Ben Poyant, and Asher Zeitschik.