Kim Deal: Nobody Loves You More

I was surprised to learn that this is Kim Deal’s first solo record. We all know about Pixies. And her side project / not side project with Tanya Donnelly and her sister, The Breeders. And her short-lived side project to her side project, The Amps. The Amps’ one and only album, 1995’s Pacer, which was originally concepted as her first solo record. Until it wasn’t. But through all that she always collaborated with others. Or at least didn’t put just her name on the record. Which, funny enough, she didn’t do here either, as there doesn’t look to be any writing on the jacket — just a weird graphic of Kim Deal adrift with her amps, guitar an odd stool and a flamingo? And dressed possibly as a lion tamer or a doorman at a planetarium? I’m not smart enough to get the symbolism here, but I’m sure it’s deep.

I wanted to say this album was produced by Steve Albini, but it seems like it was only sorta, kinda touched by him. He recorded a bunch of the tracks and I imagine — as a close friend and frequent collaborator with Deal — had some advice and direction in her eventual final production of the record before he died prior to the release of the album. Whatever the case, the most striking thing about the record right off the bat is the production. The sound of the thing. The variable layers and instrumentation and sometimes the surprising weirdness (which is where Albini might have been an inspiration). From the title track, “Nobody Loves You More,” with Deal’s distinctly warm, round voice on top of strings and a jazzy drum right into the drunken horns, surf reverb and her almost sweet, but husky delivery on track two, “Coast,” she has obviously decided not to make the artsy guitar rock record you might expect from her. And it sounds really good.

Then the Beck of it all drops on track three, “Crystal Breath.” Not literally Beck, of course, but the messing with beats, sound snippets and some bizarro production choices. Something that you imagine live being played on one of those samplers, drum machines and loopers. But fun and cool, not like some dudes with giant marshmallows on their heads or whatever. It actually reminds me of the old Luscious Jackson stuff from the Grand Royal days. With those three tracks out of the way, it’s obvious the record is a little front-loaded, but Deal continues on just kind of doing her thing. Her thing being things like track 5, “Disobedience,” that sounds like if The Beach Boys were a mid-90s indie rock band. Which sounds fucking cool now that I write it down. And, frankly, it is.

The last third of the album does feel a little like a quaalude at a golden-era prom, but it’s still filled with interesting ideas and cool sounds. It just doesn’t jump out like the first handful of tracks. But all in all Deal has really put her heart out there and defined her own style. But also reminds us that some of that surf sound and more classic 60s feel really snuck its way into Pixies records more than we might think. It’s a very cool record that cements her as a generational talent that still has fresh and bankable ideas decades past her peak of fame. Though she’s never really gone away, even if the spotlight has dimmed for her entire genre of music.