Lightning Might Strike

Perhaps nobody can make heartbreak and sadness sound as pretty as Juliana Hatfield. Its a magic trick shes been performing since the late 80s with her band Blake Babies and as a solo artist, and its one she takes to new heights on 2025s Lightning Might Strike. The album finds her emerging from a difficult period during which she found herself living alone in a new town, mourning the death of both a longtime friend and her beloved dog, and helping to usher her mother through the early stages of cancer treatment. All of this is explicitly addressed on Lightning Might Strike, a title that underscores the themes of fate, hope, and gratitude that Hatfield explores here. Its a feeling she evokes from the start on "Fall Apart," imagistically painting a picture of how unexpected trauma can push you to deal with yourself, singing, "He threw my only guitar far out into the deep end and I dove after her." From that point on, songs and epiphanies flow. She wrestles with the sticky notion that ones life might be pre-destined on "Popsicle," marks the loss of her friend with "Ashes," and embraces the warm memory of her dog on "Constant Companion." All of this is tastefully rendered with contributions by several longtime fellow Massachusetts luminaries, including drummer Chris Anzalone, bassist Ed Valauskas, and mixing and mastering by Pat DiCenso. Though colored by tragedy, on Lightning Might Strike Hatfields songs are as ringingly melodic as ever; a sound thats only grown more indelible. ~ Matt Collar