Familial Love and Loss
Kami Thompson's debut release Love Lies completes the Thompson musical production line from father Richard, mother Linda and brother Teddy. It's a familial line full of cross-album support as well as inner influence, conscious and, no doubt, subconscious.
Opener Little Boy Blue establishes that blood-trait directly with Richard's note-bending guitar work and distinct harmonising vocal helping to drive the song, one of many about lost love which in itself reflects a strong thematic tradition across this family. Third track Nice Cars drives its metaphor with sass and a gear stick stuck/what the fuck raunchy lyrical insert - essentially more heartache explored in a linguistically rich tale. Gotta Hold On gets vocal support from Rufus Wainwright, and throughout the album, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Sean Lennon and Teddy Thompson also add support. This provides undeniable breadth to Kami's consistently strong songs, as with ninth track Never Again where the harmonies rise beautifully near the song's end - another one that Kami has characterised as self-indulgent break-up music, though as listeners we can be grateful for her emotional obsession and catharsis. Penultimate track Blood Wedding is enlivened with mandolin and more sweet harmonies, the lyric invoking her mother and which sounds most like Linda in the vocal, with the theme of lacking trust in men possibly transferring down that well-known stroyline. The final song is an echo infused version of George Harrison's Don't Bother Me and yet again concerns itself with being left alone. I hope Kami has attained her closure, though I wouldn't want this to starve the muse for future songwriting.
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