Scott Lucas of
Local H is far from the first musician to find inspiration in a bad romantic breakup, and he's just one of many who has written a whole album about losing someone who was once the girl of his dreams, but the group's seventh full-length album,
12 Angry Months, is their most ambitious and adventurous work to date, finding new musical avenues to express the many emotions that emerge in the wake of a busted relationship.
12 Angry Months opens with an unusually subdued acoustic guitar and piano prelude before the electric guitars kick in and
Lucas and his ex battle over how to divvy up their mutual friends and the CD collection ("Where's all my
Kyuss records? You never liked 'em until you met me!"), and though
Lucas delivers plenty of his trademark meat-and-potatoes hard rock guitar on this album, he also shows a greater willingness to explore other textures. "White Belt Boys" and "Taxi-Cabs" flirt with minor-key Eastern modes (though they seem to be drawn from
Led Zeppelin rather than a new interest in world music), "The Summer of Boats" and "Simple Pleas" are rare examples of "power ballads" that sound heartfelt and dramatic rather than maudlin, the sarcastic pop accents lurking below of the surface of "Jesus Christ! Did You See the Size of That Sperm Whale?" add to its bite, and the epic-scaled closer, "Hand to Mouth," achieves a fitting sonic grandeur. Lyrically,
12 Angry Months runs the emotional gamut of post-breakup resentment, from ranking out on your ex's new boyfriend ("BMW Man"), wishing misery upon her and her friends ("White Belt Boys") and bitter resignation that the affair was doomed to failure ("Twenty-Four Hour Breakup Session") to self-loathing ("Jesus Christ! Did You See..."), foolishly pondering another chance ("Blur"), and clumsily moving on ("Taxi-Cabs").
12 Angry Months is often funny but just as often cuts deep enough to sting for anyone who has ever has a less-than-graceful breakup (i.e. nearly everybody), but it doesn't aim for cheap shots so much as capturing the kind of pain nearly anyone can recognize, and the music is smart enough to match. This isn't
Local H's best album, but it's certainly their most daring and emotionally naked, and the results are truly impressive. ~ Mark Deming