Love Chant

You can call this a comeback, but don’t call it a happy ending. In his memoir, *Rumours of My Demise*, which arrived tandem with this album, The Lemonheads founder Evan Dando recalls his band’s lurch towards international fame during the early ’90s and the lifestyle that came with it—before addiction led to his often-public unmooring. Three decades later, his dependency on hard drugs, he writes, has no end. He’s only ever in periods of using or not using. If the first Lemonheads album of original material in 19 years doesn’t mark the redemption of Evan Dando then, there’s still plenty of joy and triumph to be had from its existence. Largely recorded in his new home of Brazil, with bassist Farley Glavin and drummer John Kent, and wholly recorded with Dando in an enduring “off” period, it’s a robust and rangy reminder of his way with wistful, indelibly catchy guitar pop. At 58, Dando understandably presents as a little more worn-in than the catwalk-handsome slacker who fronted 1992’s succinct and spotless *It’s a Shame About Ray* and gold-selling follow-up *Come on Feel the Lemonheads* (1993). The voice is deeper and more frayed, especially when straining to break out of a mumble on “Be-In” and its portrayal of salvation found in new love. But if aching closer “Roky” offers a rueful and bruised reflection on past behaviors and “Deep End” sets an ominous tone amid zippy riffs and a J Mascis guitar solo (“Watch the clouds come over/Canary in a coma”), he’s equally defiant and galvanized elsewhere. “I’ll be out here if you want to find me/I’d rather die than let your thoughts confine me,” he sings on the urgent power pop of “In the Margin,” while he’s unapologetic about speaking his truth—whoever it upsets—on scruffy freak-folk ballad “The Key of Victory.”

With a reliable opening and a mostly pleasant sea-change midway through, Love Chant is a long-awaited return from The Lemonheads that melts away the years and anxiety.

The Lemonheads' Evan Dando returns with his first collection of originals in quite some time, adding country and psychedelia to the mix.

Evan Dando finally gets back in the saddle with an album of new tunes. Album New Music review by Guy Oddy