After releasing her most well-received album to date, the Aaron Dessner-produced All That Emotion (2020), singer/songwriter Hannah Georgas decided to take on the role of producer herself for the first time on its highly personal follow-up, Id Be Lying if I Said I Didnt Care. Her fifth album in total, it was recorded in Toronto with a stash of analog equipment and help from co-producer/partner Sean Sroka (Ten Kills the Pack). Georgas releases are typically collaborative, and shes joined here by the likes of James McAlister (Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens), Gabe Wax (the War on Drugs, Soccer Mommy), and Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck, METZ), among others. The sentiments are all Georgas, however, on a candid set that navigates despair, exclusion, and self-consciousness on songs with titles like "What I Dont Want" and "Fake Happy." The brittle "Scratch" opens the record with a series of questions that begin with "How do I…." Its hushed acoustic guitar accompaniment eventually blossoms into an intricate, full-band arrangement that includes shimmering synths, piano, shifting percussion, and a steady pop groove, alongside confused lyrics like "You and I are talking but youre talking in my sleep" and "Everything you say to me I wish I actually believed." The songs elaborate, gray-hued palette turns out to be a defining feature of the album, even when Georgas turns up the brightness on a toe-tapping, tuneful song like "Better Somehow" -- which references Joy Division while deconstructing an emotionally abusive relationship. Overcast skies also inhabit the more deadpan, post-punky "Not the Name You Say" and giddy "Home," a track whose Cure-like guitar tones, aerial synths, and brisk tempo contrast lyrics about feeling lost. Quieter songs such as the poignant and spacy "Beautiful View" ("Ive been walking with my head down/Only noticing now") and despondent "Fake Happy" exhibit heart-rending, Julia Jacklin-like vulnerability. The latter song expresses this musically as well as lyrically, when it smothers Georgas vocals in a clattering cloud of enveloping noise to end the tune (feedback gets the last word). Despite its otherwise persistent disillusionment (including wry penultimate track "Money Makes You Cool," which concludes that "Money makes you money"), Id Be Lying if I Said I Didnt Care closes with a look to moving forward ("Keep Telling Yourself"). Georgas conscious attempts here to be more candid in her songwriting pay off on a no-filler label debut for Lucy Roses Real Kind Records that stands as her best to this point in her career. ~ Marcy Donelson

Rovi