Full Review

Lynn Miles – Love Sweet Love

Miles’ previous album ‘Unravel’ was a pretty bleak and barren affair, but the contrast with this new disc is obvious from the start of the opening track – it’s not that her familiar darkness isn’t present in her writing, but the musical tone (especially the melodies) is upbeat and bright.

There’s a common theme of love running through the 11 songs and the emotions range from the exuberance of throwing yourself into a relationship (‘Flames of Love’) through to the inevitable sadness of being alone (‘Night Drive’), but overall this is an optimistic and light album.

Her vocals sound as good, if not better than ever and one of the themes of the disc is her clear and smooth vocals gliding effortlessly above Ian Lefeuvre’s excellent guitar work. This is a rich and full sounding disc and the vocals and guitar are well backed by a range of instrumentation including bass, various keyboards, strings, banjo and some memorable percussion.

The production by Lefeuvre is beautifully handled and there’s a flow and continuity throughout the disc, in particular the opening sequence of 6 songs is stunning – all 6 are excellent individual tracks that cover a range of styles, but when listened to in sequence they’re perfectly balanced and easy to enjoy.

‘Love Sweet Love’ is easily Canadian Miles’ strongest album; the songs are consistently excellent, the melodies sweet and memorable and the backing varied and interesting. One of the best country/folk singer/songwriter discs we carry. Very highly recommended.