“No Cover” is Jacksonville folk/indie rock duo Loretto’s third LP, released last week. With each subsequent record, you can hear their sound evolve and mature. This maturity culminates on “No Cover,” a record rife with folky guitars and beautiful, winding synth passages. The vocal performances on this record are far more impressive than previous efforts and sometimes remind me of emo/indie heavyweights “The Front Bottoms” in terms of delivery and vocal patterns.
There are 13 tracks found on this record, but it clocks in at a lean 30 minutes. A number of transitional interludes bulk up the tracklist and prime the listener for the next proper track. These tracks, entitled: “.”, “..”, “...”, etc. are great palette cleansers and serve to give the listener an ethereal and wholesome experience before diving back in. I was instantly captivated by the harmonica section in one of the shortest interludes. However, I felt as if this concept would have been better executed if there were only two or three interludes, as some of them felt like filler and didn’t have any sort of significant hook to make much of an impact.
The guitars on this record were meant to be front and center - and for good reason. They are frequently the most fleshed out element on this batch of tracks. The sweet and twangy guitar licks on standout track “Smaller Town” alternate between muted and jangly, providing the listener with an elevated sense of polyphony. The guitars almost have a beach-like tone that induces sudden-onset head bobbing. The lyrical content on this song is interesting, dealing with staying in one’s hometown and not venturing out and creating a life for yourself. The buildup to the hook is also one of the most important and impactful moments on the LP.
Lead single “It’s Like That,” is probably my favorite track on the album, featuring an absolute earworm of a chorus that won’t leave your head for days on end - trust me. This is a song that’ll be on my rotation for the rest of the year. The vocal performance by Zach is outstanding, utilizing a staccato technique that is both catchy and gripping. The fantastic and emotive vocal performance is backed up by an infectious guitar melody and shimmering synths. There’s just something about this track that hits me in the best way possible. The distorted synth outro is also pleasant and transitions really well into “The Sinking State.”
“Iva and Merle” is another standout track, presenting the listener with a much more somber and moody tone than any other song on the record. The bright, shining synths do a good job creating a foil for the emotional atmosphere. One cool thing this song does is slowly introduce additional layers, which gives the song a lot of added texture. For instance, there are two moments on this track that add an extra strumming pattern and additional punchy (if not a little low in the mix) drums respectively, which encourages repeated listens.
The bass isn’t very audible during the duration of the album’s runtime, because it is pushed down in the mix or mimicking the guitar. However, it shines through a on “Walk” and compliments the quick, concise drums and droning but sickly sweet synths. I think this song, along with the following track, “Roots,” could have used an extra 30 seconds or minute to fully flesh out the song. It feels like these two have some great ideas but they were cut short in an attempt to keep the record short and to the point. I understand the need to keep the album concise, but these songs would have some serious legs if they had been expounded upon a little more. For instance, “Roots” only has about a minute of run-time that isn’t the intro. I would have loved to see where they went with this track stylistically had it been a little longer.
I know earlier on in this review I stated that the record could benefit from less interludes, but the final interlude “.....” is one that I think SHOULD NOT be included in that. This interlude is pretty much a full instrumental song in its own right, using interesting samples, folky acoustic guitar, and synths that sound as if they were ripped straight from a video game. This song automatically transports me mentally to a lush forest with trees surrounding me on all sides and not a single care in the world. This beautiful and moving track is short but to-the-point and doesn’t pull any punches.
All in all, this record is highly enjoyable and I suggest you give it a listen if this kind of music is up your ally. The folky guitars and soulful vocals are impressive and the album as whole was extremely enjoyable. My only minor criticism is that some of the songs didn’t feel like they were long enough to fully house the great ideas that the band came up with. While, yes, this is a criticism, it speaks volumes about the quality of work that the only issue I have is that I want more content.
Make sure to stream “No Cover” on Spotify and check out their socials to stay up to date on announcements, music releases, and merch. I hope you enjoyed the review. Cheers!
Instagram: Lorettofl
Facebook: LorettoFL
Bandcamp: https://loretto.bandcamp.com/
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