Laura Love
Shum Ticky
Mercury

Laura Who? It's true that Laura Love isn't a name most people in Wyoming are familiar with, but I aim to change all that. Like her previous album, this sound described as "Afro-Celt" is much more than its label suggests. Her lead vocals are the most powerful female pipes I've heard in forever, and her bass playing is incredible. There are more rhythms and harmonies and instruments used on this CD than on most albums. And let me tell you, she and her homies know how to deliver them with ‘tude.

The first song is "Woe Is Me." The lyrics begin:

Woe is me
Nothing is stranger than reality
I got my bags all packed
For when the purples and the reds attack

It goes on talking about folks from the Bible -- not something you hear a lot of in alternative/world music.

The next song is my favorite. It has a middle eastern sound, and lots of Love's trademark harmonies. The subject? Booties. No, not the kind for your feet. "Mahbootay" is all about her "big ol' booty," and anyone who can make a song out of that gets my vote for one of the coolest people on the planet!

There's a song featuring Sir Mix-A-Lot, and a song or two that sound like traditional folk. The lyrics are interesting, the wordplay is genius, and the entire sound is never dull.

I won't guarantee the listener will always understand the lyrics. Shum Ticky? Who knows what that means? -- who cares? There's so much going on at any time on this collection that it will take many, many hours to become bored with it. Personally, I don't think boredom is an option.

-Kate Rice

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