As the culmination of a multi-year string of excellent singles, Lindsay Dragan released The Forests, The Mountains, The Desert At Night earlier this month.
The album contains familiar tunes like “The Radiant Light,” “Desert Palm,” and “Everywhere,” and complements them with several new ones. “Skin Deep,” one of the previously unheard cuts, accomplishes a tricky feat that happens to be Dragan’s specialty: delicately balancing brawn and wistfulness to create an Americana anthem that haunts as well as rouses. The track, whose powerful guitars and swaggering rhythm section are tempered by Dragan’s yearning, echoing vocals, celebrates the wisdom that comes with growing old enough to give less of a fuck about unimportant things. Dragan defiantly belts, “When I opened my mouth and stuck up for me/I was told I was hopeless, I was told I was mean/So I hit the road driving with a head full of steam/I didn’t stop ’til I couldn’t feel the pull on me” later adding, “When my hair turned grey I never felt more free[…]These bodies will be corpses, beauty’s only skin deep.” By the time the double-timed Na-na-na refrain kicks in, you’ll be halfway to your car, ready to tear down the nearest open road.
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