It was obvious on their 2005 debut album,
Stairs and Elevators
, that though the
Heartless Bastards
were a band, it was clearly vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter
Erika Wennerstrom
who was not only the star of the show but the one calling the creative shots. By the time they issued their third LP, 2009's
The Mountain
,
Wennerstrom
was the only original member left in the group, and in 2018, she released a solo album,
Sweet Unknown
.
has chosen to reclaim the
banner for 2021's
A Beautiful Life
, but it sounds and feels more like a solo effort than anything in the band's previous catalog.
recorded
with an ad hoc band made up of journeyman musicians and players from other bands, including
David Pulkingham
and
Lauren Gurgiolo
on guitars,
Jesse Chandler
on keyboards, clarinet, and flute,
Bo Koster
on keyboards, and
Greggory Clifford
on drums. While the players deliver top-shelf performances and support
's vocals and melodies with admirable skill, they lack the intuitive feel of a group that's learned to read one another before they worked up these songs, and the tunes go in enough different directions to confound expectations of sonic unity. All of which is to say that
is the work of
, not the
, and while that might seem like a dubious distinction, it does make a difference in the way the work plays out. That said, if
is an
solo album, it happens to be a very good one, sounding more confident and ambitious than
, and eager to take chances. Those include the string charts on several tracks, the beats informed by hip-hop and contemporary R&B, the melodies that look towards adult pop formats rather than the blues-based framework of their first works, the canny use of dynamics and extended arrangements, the spacious tone of the production (by
Kevin Ratterman
in tandem with
) and mix, and the graceful passion and literacy of these songs, which expands the personal observations of the early
material with the addition of social and political statements that still feel honest and human. Think of
as a solo album travelling in the disguise of a group effort (much like how
the Replacements
'
All Shook Down
can be easily read as a
Paul Westerberg
solo project), and you get a clearer picture of the personality of this music, though it documents
continuing to mature as an artist with a talent and vision that connects regardless of branding. ~ Mark Deming