Megan’s Top 25 of 2009: #3 - The Love Language

In the spirit of this year’s Olympic Games, The Love Language win this countdown’s bronze medal, finishing 2009 at #3. Full of burning and yearning and longing and loss, this self-titled debut LP serves as quite the coming out party for these North Carolinians. As far as I’m concerned, it’s got it all: throaty, warbling vocals, slightly slipshod, roughly lo-fi production, and enough charm to fill several albums. I was once told, by a North Carolinian, that bands like this are all over the great state of North Carolina, and if that’s the case I just might have to think about moving there permanently.

“I could have died in your arms/Now I’m back at your feet,” from “Two Rabbits” sets the tone on The Love Language. Mistakes, regret, sorrow. Repeat. The rambunctious stomper “Lalita” was my introduction to The Love Language, and as with the whole album I found myself powerless against its immediately magnetic force. Full of wonderful lyrics like, “I’d pour you another/but I think I heard the bottle break on the bedroom floor,” “Lalita” is a potent little gem of a song. Not only does The Love Language do jangly, lively songs well, but they particularly excel at one of my favorite song types, the plaintive, sniffling little tearjerkers. “Stars” is one of these, bringing the frenetic mood of the preceding “Lalita” down to a sorrowful crawl. “You shot me down just as I was startin to feel alive/Little girls tell the biggest lies,” croon they, as the acoustic guitar strums and the drums mope on. “Manteo,” another dreamy, somewhat skulking slow song, features more wonderfully sad lyrics, “You had a boy you trusted/And I had a heart full of lies,” and the delightful addition of some jingle bells.

All in all, The Love Language is a record drenched in woe, heavy with regret and remorse and guilt. It’s torn and frayed and a lovely piece of heartbreak. Maybe I just love it cuz I’m a total sucker for a sad song, but be that as it may, sad songs don’t get much better.

mp3: Manteo (The Love Language from The Love Language)