The Love Language comes to us wrapped in brown paper and twine, a time capsule of songs sent from when wide-skirted girls did the twist. Stuart McLamb’s romantic lyrics are shot through with nostalgia, and echo into the 2010s as if spiraling out the brassy mouth of a phonograph. Beneath gauzy vocals and static layers of guitar lie steady percussive beats, grounding these songs in the now to create a sound that effortlessly straddles two eras of music.
“Heart to Tell” and “Lalita” are upbeat, snappy tunes well-suited for a country drive in a turquoise convertible. On “Wilmot” the mood turns slow and dreamy, intoxicating the listener with the heady childhood feeling of driveway hula hooping; the transient chords of the song encircle like striped plastic as it orbits your waist, clinging momentarily before clattering to the pavement at your feet.
The Love Language just released their second album, Libraries, which is packed with tunes that surreptitiously stick, sweet and nostalgic, like bubble gum to a saddle shoe. Drop by TT The Bear’s on July 14 to swing and swoon to them.