Lindi Ortega has been an artist whose style has had to grow on me. Her voice is quite different from those that I usually gravitate toward, but she has a real talent for darker songs. Readers of this site know I don’t often turn away from a dark song! Therefore, when deciding which of Lindi Ortega’s albums I wanted to reflect upon, I had only one in mind.
Release Date: 2012
Style: Alt-Country
People Who Might like This Album: Those who appreciate a good dark tale, and people who don’t mind some deviation from the usual ideas of country music.
Standout Tracks: “Day You Die,” “Murder of Crows,” “Heaven Has No Vacancy”
The songs listed above are not the only great tracks here, but since this is a ten-song album I thought I’d keep my list short. I like when Lindi does more upbeat songs, so “Day You Die” was an instant love, merely based on the guitars and tempo. Still, it’s the lyrics that really make this song stick. “You said you’d love me til the cows come home, well I’m hoping that they all go blind”. Basically, her lover says he’ll love her forever, but she fights with all her might to keep their passion alive, nonetheless. She tells him “just don’t say you’ll love me til the day you die”.
“Murder of Crows” is—you guessed it—a song about murder. It’s got more of a faster tempo though, and her voice is slightly effected. We don’t really learn why, but we know that the narrator of the song kills someone. With an opening line of “everybody knows what’s going down when a murder of crows starts hanging around”, it’s hard to not be immediately hooked.
“Heaven Has No Vacancy” is, if possible, even darker than “Murder of Crows”. The narrator is trying to get into Heaven, and she ends up sitting on the stairs of the Pearly Gates. The imagery of this song is simply stunning. Plus, the words in the beginning of the song, “for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness” sets the stage nicely. The narrator wants a place in Heaven, but Heaven has no vacancy.
Overall, this album is one I always come back to when I think of Lindi Ortega. The variety of subjects and different tempos keep things interesting. Overall, it’s probably my favorite of her albums. With Liberty coming out recently, her music has been brought more to my attention, and I’m hoping for people to check out her back catalog.
I love this feature and thanks for highlighting this excellent album! I’ve only listened to “Liberty” once and I didn’t realize the first time through that it’s a concept album, so I’ll have to spend some more time with it before I can formulate a good opinion. This article led me to go listed to “Cigarettes and Truckstops” for the first time in a while – thank you!