Juliana Hatfield

Peace + Love

(Ye Olde)

Record Review by Joe Cortez

I can’t understand why Juliana Hatfield has yet to achieve the level of mainstream success a woman of her talent deserves. Here is an artist with an ear for catchy pop hooks and a tender voice that even when harsh and angry still manages to be pleasing. Listening to her output thus far it’s clear to me she has a deeper, more innate understanding of what makes a great rock song work than she is given credit for yet she remains a cult act with a loyal following. Ultimately I think it comes down to what is, for me, her greatest strength as a songwriter: an unrelenting honesty. I have never once found Hatfield to be anything but truthful and open on record. That she appears to linger in the darker aspects of her being may be troubling to some but for those that far too often find themselves in such a place it is reassuring to know they are not alone.

Coming off 2008’s slick and at times overproduced How to Walk Away, her latest release, Peace + Love, is Hatfield’s most understated since 2000’s Beautiful Creature and the results find her at her introspective best. Given the title, it’s no surprise the tracks on this album are mostly about love. If the subject matter is less than original, you must certainly admire the way Hatfield handles the material. “I won’t give up on peace and love,” she proclaims, almost defiantly, on the album’s title track. Of course, much of the focus will no doubt be directed towards the song “Evan,” about the Lemonheads frontman (and reported former flame) but the one song that stayed with me long afterward is neither about peace or love, “Dear Anonymous.” This song seems to tie in with a recurring theme of disappearing or fading away as lyrics that hint or directly speak to this creep up in "What is Wrong," "Peace + Love," and (appropriately enough) "I'm Disappearing." It doesn't quite add up to something tangible here but I'm sure the meaning is paramount to Hatfield herself.

Some listeners might be turned off by the stripped down nature of Peace + Love and indeed this disc probably has more in common with the collection of demos Hatfield released around the time of How to Walk Away than anything else in her catalog. That’s not to say the songs on this album feel unfinished, just an observation on the overall feeling that can be gleamed while listening. Hatfield is at her best when she is raw and unrestrained. There's a certain freedom that comes over her when she's just allowed to play and hearing her on this disc is a joy.

This might seem like a minor work but as a fan it’s hard for me to put anything she’s done in such a context. It doesn't quite reach the heights of her past best, but I imagine Peace + Love will benefit from repeated listens and the passage of time. The fact that this album even exists at all might be considered something of a miracle since there was some doubt as to whether or not Hatfield would continue recording following her last disc. For now it seems those concerns are unfounded. Peace + Love is here and it couldn't have arrived any sooner.

A note about the sound quality: According to her website, Peace + Love will only be sold on physical disc in limited quantities. I suspect most people will hear this album through iTunes, on their laptop speakers or ear buds where the sound quality is shrill and compressed. The fact that little emphasis was placed on getting pitch perfect studio quality audio makes this album seem almost tailor-made for the iPhone generation. You probably won’t need a high end surround system to get every last nuance and detail of this recording and there’s a certain homemade charm to it that I have to wonder wasn’t entirely unintentional.