Emancipated Hearts
*Emancipated Hearts* is exactly what fans wanted from Dean Wareham. A stronger debut of solo tunes (extremely belated!) from the former Galaxie 500 and Luna leader is hard to imagine. The first track, “Love Is Colder Than Death,” is as comfy and familiar as your old *Today* t-shirt, with the best Galaxie 500 and Luna tropes blended into one: loping and pop-inflected, but murky, hazy, and romantic. “The Deadliest Day” features a graceful weave of strings and echoing bass drum, all subdued and somber, ringing of a Velvet Underground kind of sadness. Of course, as Wareham and wife Britta Phillips scored a number of Andy Warhol\'s “screen tests” for their “13 Most Beautiful” project back in 2010, it’s hard to shake that influence when listening to Wareham’s work now. He shares a certain aesthetic with the Warhol/Velvets world, his fragile voice clearly rooted in the narcoticized ambience of the desire and curiosity that so informed that part of the ‘60s. Borrowing from influences as far-ranging as filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, George Orwell, and The Incredible String Band (see the amazing “Air”), this collection is enough to make the ache of missing Galaxie 500 less painful.
Dean Wareham has been the frontman for Galaxie 500, Luna, and Dean & Britta, but he's never made a proper solo record. His first under his own name was produced by Jason Quever, of Papercuts, who matches a fine collection of Wareham songs with the blurred dreaminess of his G500 work.
It's only taken at least 25 years, but former Galaxie 500 and Luna man Dean Wareham has released his first solo record - and it's at least three quarters brilliant.
Dean Wareham's first-ever solo project, 2013's mini-album Emancipated Hearts, finds the former Luna frontman delivering more of the melodic, psychedelic-tinged pop he has built a career around since his early days with the legendary indie rock band Galaxie 500.
For a man who's been plying his trade for over 25 years, it's kind of strange that Emancipated Hearts is Dean Wareham's first solo recording.
Dean Wareham has always seemed to have an uncomfortable relationship with his past.