Lovett: Highway Collection Review

Artist: Lovett
Album: Highway Collection
Label: Lovers Label

What do you get when you combine a film composer with pop sensibilities with three years of songwriting and help from over 150 collaborators? The answer would be the debut album from Athens GA’s Lovett, Highway Collection. The mastermind behind the project, Ben Lovett (no, not the same Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons fame), spent years involved in the hustle and bustle on the production end of various film scores and records, and even won accolades for his work on the 2008 film The Last Lullaby .While living in LA, Lovett lived and ran a production company/studio with Brian Burton, better known as super producer Danger Mouse (Broken Bells, Gnarls Barkley, MF DOOM). Highway Collection showcases Lovett’s abilities as songwriter, producer, and frontman with a little help from the friends he has made working in studios over the years.

“The Fear” is the opening track on the record, and it gives the listener a pretty decent idea of what’s to come on the rest of the record. Acoustic guitar complemented by subtle melodies on keys and electric guitars build throughout the song, culminating in a chorus of over 100 music camp kids by tracks end. Lovett’s vocal stylings are best described as a cross between Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Brendan Benson, best known for being a hand-picked member of Jack White’s super group The Raconteurs. “Heartattack” is easily the most upbeat, danceable tune on the album, with a catchy hook driven by a wall of a horn section and Lovett’s voice pleading “gotta let your love take control.” The highlight of the album is its fourth track, “Black Curtain.” It casts somewhat of a melancholy and dark mood, driven by slide guitars and a Hammond organ or two, and deals with leaving your past behind, but wanting to reminisce about those times a bit too much. The aptly titled “Same Old Song” is just that, a track that could have easily been pulled off of any number of pop/rock records from the 90s. From here, the record sort of slips into a coma of down-tempo, despondent tracks until the 9 song album comes to a close with “Ghost of Old Highways,” which attempts to pick the record back up before it closes out.

Ben Lovett has said that each track on the album will be accompanied by a video, which seems appropriate given his natural abilities to score for film and create a visual with the melodies and moods created throughout Highway Collection (two of which have already been completed and can be viewed on his bio page). However, these songs may need video accompaniment, as they’re not quite strong enough to stand on their own. Lovett may have focused a bit too heavily on constructing nicely fitted pop tunes, as several songs feel as if they want to wander and evolve into something more, but seldom take that plunge in a different direction. Too often the songs just end up being, well, “the same old song.”