Lovelorn "What's Yr Damage" LP/CD

Staring down the barrel of their psych-gaze outfit Creepoid’s disolution, Anna and Patrick Troxell didn’t see an ending. Instead, they staged the reveal of their then-secret project Lovelorn. This commitment to secrecy pervades throughout Lovelorn’s debut album What’s Yr Damage. Each lyric rings like a slurred secret, every melody slips like an ace from a sleeve.

Named for a term of endearment used between Anna and Patrick Troxell, What’s Yr Damage celebrates the longstanding romantic and creative partnership between the duo. Eager to press flesh to the sonic skeletons left by Creepoid, the Troxells began to connect their broadspanning influences into a constellation of sound they’ve coined as “drug pop.” From dusky new wave synths to throbbing Detroit techno, What’s Yr Damage lies on the outskirts of conventional pop music.

Using a menagerie of analog and digital instrumentation, Lovelorn’s sound is rooted in the heydays of their prime influences—Soulwax, Echo & The Bunnymen, Spacemen 3—with eyes set on a self-made future. The album opens at breakneck speed with “Fight or Flight,” a synth-fueled romp narrating a dancefloor rendevous, a tale of strange bodies moving through all-too-familiar motions. The aural whiplash continues with stutter stepping rhythm of “Sickness Reward,” a meditation on failure in all its forms.

Lovelorn’s songwriting prowess flexes in full with “Get A Job,” coiling around the cheeky refrain “Time is nothing but it’s what you deserve / Are you wasting what you waited for?” The phrase is doctored into a nihilistic trance, bashed by a flaring beat and Anna’s rebel yells. The duo transcend the sum of their parts with the rasping trip-hop groove “Hole In Yr Soul” and the blustering lament “Around You.”

As What’s Yr Damage cycles through its 10 tracks in a tight 35 minutes, the Troxells’ comfort amidst chaos is palpable. With their undaunted take on synth-fueled pop, it is clear that the duo’s debut was born from damage and disolution. The end of one sound begets another, the existence of a troubled past implies a promising future, and a wound can open as a world of potential. “What’s yr damage,” Lovelorn asks. It’s up to the listener to find the truth in that question’s infinite possibilities.

1st Pressing:
150 - Aqua Blue-inside-Orange Crush w/ Black Splatter
300 - Sea Blue w/ Halloween Orange Splatter
∞ - Black Vinyl