WITH a first solo album in nigh on six years just cusping the horizon – it’s called Reason to Live, it’ll be out at the end of the month on Joyful Noise Recordings, and you can find out where to snag yourself a copy down at the end there – and following the chiming, heartfelt loveliness of “Over You”, Lou Barlow has just dropped a second come-hither, “Love Intervene” – come inside, have a watch of the lyric video.
It’s a song that finds Lou stripped back to a cantering, cosmic Americana pop that’s just stuffed with charm, bearing the torch for the purity and power of love as a way through the buffeting upheaval. “Tide after tide, change is the meaning of life/ It turns any wall into sand,” he sings.
Lou wrote “Love Intervene” in 2018; the lyrics were revised in our recent annus horribilis to reflect his (and our) new present.
Lou says: “Since this is a lyric video I don’t feel the need to explain the lyrics. I can say it’s an anthem and I’m not sure if I’ve ever really written a real anthem before.
“I shy away from declarations, life is too complicated. But, it’s hard to argue with the power of love.
“I wrote this song a few years ago and recorded it a few times. I tried it as solo acoustic song and sang it on a few short tours I did, playing backyards and living rooms in the US. It seemed to go over well, or, maybe I just like singing it. I tried it with a band, too.
“I’d like to say that this ‘Reason To Live’ version is the definitive recording of the song but, honestly, I’d like to hear someone else take it to new heights. The sentiment seems almost out of my range sometimes. Believing in love is like that, it can always be bigger but remain so elusive. “
After decades on the road with Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, The Folk Implosion, Lou’s tapped into a new confidence in the chaos; now he’s come to an understanding of that swirl of living, the waves you ride, rather than trying to contain it.
“People have this vision of me as this heartbroken, depressed guy, but this record feels so true to who I am, to this rich life I now have full of people I love,” he says.
“The songs culminated over the last five years to show that music has returned to its central comforting role in my life. Now I’m home.”
Lou Barlow’s Reason To Live will be released by Joyful Noise digitally, on CD, on light pink cassette and on pale blue vinyl on May 28th; you can get your order in either at Bandcamp or at the label’s webstore.
Connect with Lou Barlow at his website, on Spotify and Apple Music, and on Twitter and Instagram.
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