Rachel Loy

Rachel Loy

Love the Mess

"Oh, you shouldn't have made me another mix CD. Now you're calling me again, but you call me first thing in the morning." So cautions Rachel Loy in her girlish, shimmering voice on "Love Me Too Much" from her local debut, Love the Mess. In doing so, Loy steps up and takes her seat on the long, long, long singer-songwriter bench. It's an impressive entrance, serving notice that Austin's youthful generation of songwriters and musicians raised in music camps are ready to rock & roll. Loy's songwriting – she composed all 13 tracks – is especially notable. She's firmly in the pop mold, unafraid of the occasional derivative influence; "Posers" owes melodically to the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun," but her lyrical dismay is her own. Loy's voice has a pretty, airy tone to it, framed by Carl Thiel's expert touch as producer, and shining on "After the Storm." Despite her declaration on the title track, "I've been thinking maybe lately I would rather count my scars than just stop complaining," Loy obviously hasn't the thick skin of a veteran who's been through numerous marriages, cheating boyfriends, and the usual rumble-tumble of life lived. Yet as the sweetly sensual "Looking at Me" demonstrates, neither does she have faux-bravado or the pretense of experience about such things. In a wonderful way, it's truly refreshing the way Rachel Loy's 21 years are evident, reflected in a world where mix CDs are a measure of affection. (Thursday, March 17, 8pm @ Momos)