Consumer Guide Album

Sarah Mary Chadwick: Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby [Ba Da Bing!, 2021]
Although there are two longterm relationships on the biographical record of this 37-year-old Kiwi-turned-Aussie, it's not just tempting but fair to hear these new songs recorded solo in one day on the Yamaha in her living room autobiographically--even to assume that each one addresses a new lover, factual or imaginary. Nor is love sweet even when it's fond, which isn't often--although she's catchier and funnier than on her two earlier albums, the mood is stark, sharp, arresting. Her harsh contralto talky, her pragmatic tunes getting the job done, Chadwick insists that you attend to the lyrics of an intelligent soul who's made her rough peace with cynicism, depression, and worse. "I'll turn you on you turn me out/She'll pick you up I'll lay you down." "I choose torture over dreaming/I choose torture over dreaming/I crawl into your mind when you're sleeping/You're so facile you're a demon." "That feeling when everything's falling apart/That feeling when no one knows their lines by heart." And believe me, she can go on. A-