Artist: Rebecca Loebe
Album: Give Up Your Ghosts
Label: Blue Corn Music
Release Date: 2.8.2019
Although it doesn’t chew on tobacco-stained, gritty folk and country realism, Give Up Your Ghosts would spit out the very notion that its contents are made of bubblegum. Too sweet and pretty to run with that rough and rowdy outlaw crowd, Rebecca Loebe’s alluring, pop-flavored Americana is glossy and pristine, and yet there’s more depth and substance to it than meets the eye.
The same is often said of Dolly Parton, as her glittery glamour always masked a strong backbone. Echoes of “Jolene” can be heard in the sweeping “Everything Changes” from the lustrous Give Up Your Ghosts, as a resilient Loebe gathers a storming crescendo of yearning melody and transcendent vocals. Whether she’s softly caressing poignant lyrics, as she envelopes the folk-pop build of “Ghosts,” or being playful and coy in reliving the romantic, carefree nostalgia of “High School Movie,” Loebe is a captivating singer, with the kind of elegant and emotional ebb-and-flow dynamics and dramatic flourishes that left such a strong impression on TV’s “The Voice.”
Mesmerizing and charming throughout Give Up Your Ghosts, Loebe flutters and flies around in the gentle bluesy zephyrs of “Got Away” – an escapist reverie, as smoothly as Keb’ Mo’ navigates a guitar. Occupying the dreamy ballad “Lake Louise” with a graceful presence, immersed in her own swooning narrative, she also bobs along lazily in the velvety aural noir of “Flying.” And in the cold, quiet space of “Growing Up,” co-written by Megan Burtt and sparsely punctuated by crisp finger snaps, this champion of women’s equality and self-improvement in the face of destructive misogyny soulfully grapples with all that comes with maturity, both good and bad.
Writing about letting go of regrets, hard break-ups and self-doubt, Loebe is a sly lyricist, with lines that cut you to the quick. “Give up your ghosts, at least the ones you love the most, they’re never holding you as close as you are holding them,” is one of her most incisive and memorable. With producer and multi-instrumentalist Will Robertson, they craft beautiful arrangements and bewitching melodies out dobro, pedal steel, guitars and whatever else they find laying around, using top-notch musicians with great feel for the material to bring it to life. That spectacular voice isn’t the only thing that makes Loebe special.
—Peter Lindblad
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